Week one blurred into a strange rhythm of normalcy laced with fever. The outside world kept spinning—investors demanded updates, regulators hovered, the media speculated about “NexusTech’s ghost town HQ”—so the seven of them maintained the facade of business-as-usual. Mornings started at 8:00 sharp in the glass-walled conference room on the 42nd floor, the same space where they used to pitch to venture funds. Now the only audience was each other, reflected back in endless sheets of tempered glass.
Vicky stood at the head of the table in yoga pants and a cropped hoodie, hair twisted into a messy bun, marker in hand as she updated the Erebus roadmap on the digital whiteboard. The six men sat in their usual semicircle: Ethan at her right, always the first to arrive; Liam slouched with his la
