Lucas got the car.
I walked out of the Blackwood building into the cold afternoon with my portfolio under my
arm and the specific lightness of a person who has just watched something conclude that
they have been working toward for a very long time. Not triumphant. Just settled. The way
you feel when a structural calculation finally resolves and the numbers confirm what you
knew they would but needed to see in black and white before you could fully believe it.
The vote had passed.
Fourteen to one.
The most decisive Blackwood board vote in a decade.
I sat in the car on the way back to the hotel and called Olivia, who picked up on the second
ring and said: “I know. Daniel texted me. How do you feel?”
“Like it’s done,” I said.
“Good,” she said. “Because it is.” A pause. “Come over
