The week didn’t slow down.
If anything, it sharpened.
Every move at Reid Capital carried precision, every decision layered with intent. After what had been defined—carefully, deliberately—between Shawn and me, nothing felt accidental anymore.
Not the way we spoke.
Not the way we didn’t.
Not even the space we kept.
Controlled exposure.
That was what we had agreed on.
And we were executing it flawlessly.
But control—
Only worked inside the system.
Outside of it—
Variables existed.
⸻
By Friday afternoon, I was no longer thinking like an analyst.
I was thinking like someone managing two worlds.
The executive floor remained untouched—clean, structured, contained.
But my phone buzzed with a different reminder.
A different life.
Saturday. Home.
I hadn’t told Shawn.
There had
