Elena's POV
"Who sent that?"
Damian didn't answer right away. He was still looking at Ruth's phone, thumb hovering over the screen like he could will the message into meaning something else if he stared at it long enough.
"Damian." I said his name sharper this time. "Who sent that?"
"Nobody." He handed the phone back to Ruth, and whatever had crossed his face a second ago folded itself away so completely I might have imagined it. "A vendor dispute. Somebody's unhappy about a contract."
"That's not what it said."
"That's what it was." He said it flatly, the same tone he probably used on board members who asked questions above their pay grade, and it landed on me exactly the way I imagined it landed on them… final, closed, not up for negotiation.
Ruth slid the phone into her cardigan
