"If every decision becomes a demonstration of authority, this project is not going to survive the first quarter."
The silence weighed heavily and I breathed controllably. I wasn't going to back down on impulse, but I couldn't ignore the obvious either.
Ethan spoke first this time.
"You're right."
I looked at him.
I didn't expect him to say it like that.
"The priority is the project," he continued. "Not our methodologies."
Ours.
He didn't say hers. He said ours.
Something in my rigidity dropped one level.
"I propose the following," he added. "Suppliers are evaluated together. If Sinclair's team stands by its choice after a joint technical review, Blackwood officially backs that decision to the investor."
That was not an imposition, it was a measured concession.
I felt the weight
