Vale Global's boardroom looked exactly the way I remembered it. Same dark table. Same skyline. Same row of water glasses no one touched until a meeting was going badly. The difference was my chair. This time, my name was on it.

MARA BENNETT

BENNETT & MERCER / NORTHSTAR

Closing was scheduled for nine on Monday morning. At eight forty-seven, we still did not have the shareholder approval.

Priya stood at the end of Northstar's conference table with two phones, a laptop, and the calm expression of a person who had chosen a profession built aro

The Tribeca lobby opened ten weeks later. Not the whole building. Just the ground floor, two finished model units, and enough of the common space for brokers to stop wearing hard hats. The stone arrived on time. I noticed that first. Nadia noticed me noticing. "Don't."