(Zara)
The Hale boardroom had a view of the harbor, and I didn't look at it once.
I'd learned that much from Sebastian. You don't look at the view. You look at the people, because the people are the whole game, and the view is just a thing rich offices have to remind you what's at stake. So while the Hale team filed in, I watched them the way I'd been taught, and I found the two he'd told me about.
The son sat at the head of the table like he'd been waiting years for the chair. He had the easy confidence of a man who'd never had to earn his place. And down the side, quiet, unbothered, a woman with gray hair in a plain suit who let her son do the talking and missed nothing. The mother. The one who actually decided. She caught me watching her and I didn't look away, and something in her f
