REMI'S POV
Jade came to the penthouse the morning after the ratification.
Not a formal meeting — she texted my number: Can we speak. Not formally. I think there's something you need to know about how I was brought into this. The message had a quality that was different from the calibrated register she'd used in Patricia's conference room. Stripped down. The composure absent.
I texted back: Penthouse. Late morning.
She arrived in a dark coat, no assistants, no folder. The difference between the Jade who had sat in Patricia's conference room with the charter and the Jade standing in my kitchen now was the difference between a performance and a person.
I sat across from her at the island. Dax was in his office. The walls, as established, were not as thick as they looked.
"Tell me," I sa
