The Howell Group headquarters sat on Fifth Avenue like a glass monument. I'd walked past it a thousand times as a teenager, barely looking up. Now I stood in the lobby with a security badge clipped to my jacket and my mother's voice in my head: *Walk in like you own it. You do.*
The elevator ride to the forty-second floor took thirty seconds. I counted.
The boardroom was all windows and polished mahogany. Twelve people sat around the table. I knew most of their names from my father's dinner conversations years ago. Gerald Whitfield sat at the far end, silver-haired and perfectly composed in a suit that probably cost more than most people's cars. He'd been on the board since before I was born.
My father made the introductions. VP of Strategic Investments. Media and entertainment portfolio. I shook hands. Smiled. Sat.
Gerald cleared his throat before my father could continue.
"Ellis, if I may." He folded his hands on the table. His tone was warm. Reasonable. "I think we're all delighted to have Nadia back in the family fold. But I do wonder if we're moving a bit quickly here. VP is a significant role. Does she have the operational depth for it?"
The room went very still.
I looked at him. He looked back. His smile never wavered.
"It's a fair question," I said.
My father started to speak. I touched his wrist, just once. He stopped.
I stood. Walked to the screen at the front of the room. Pulled up the media portfolio analysis I'd spent the last two weeks building.
"Our current media holdings are underperforming by eighteen percent year-over-year," I said. "We're overexposed in legacy print and underinvested in digital content production. I've identified three acquisition targets that would diversify our revenue streams and position us for vertical integration."
I clicked through the slides. Projections. Comps. Restructuring timelines.
"The first is a mid-tier production company in LA. Undervalued because of a single bad quarter, but their IP library is worth four times their current market cap. The second is a podcast network with twenty million monthly listeners and almost no monetization strategy. We can fix that in six months. The third is a boutique PR firm that already reps half the clients we want relationships with."
I didn't look at my notes. I didn't need to.
"Total acquisition cost, two hundred ten million. Projected annual savings from consolidation and restructuring, forty million. ROI within three years, assuming conservative growth models. If we're aggressive, eighteen months."
I turned back to the table.
"Operational depth," I said. "Is that what you were asking about?"
Gerald's smile had thinned. He nodded once. Said nothing.
I sat back down.
The meeting continued. No one questioned me again.
---
Leo woke up screaming at two in the morning.
I was in his room before the second scream finished. He was sitting upright in bed, eyes open but not seeing, his whole body shaking. I pulled him into my lap and held him. He fought me at first, then went limp.
"You're safe," I whispered into his hair. "I'm here. You're safe."
It took twenty minutes for his breathing to even out. By then my mother was in the doorway, her robe tied tight, her face calm in that way that meant she was working very hard to keep it calm.
"Third time this week," she said quietly.
I nodded.
She came in and sat on the edge of the bed. Put her hand on Leo's back. He didn't wake.
"I found someone," she said. "A specialist. Dr. Priya Anand. She's worked with children who've been through custody trauma. I can call her in the morning if you want."
I looked at her. At the careful way she'd said *if you want*, like she was offering instead of directing.
"Yes," I said. "Please."
---
Dr. Anand's office was in a brownstone on the Upper West Side. Soft lighting. Bookshelves full of picture books. A basket of toys in the corner. She was younger than I expected, with kind eyes and a handshake that felt solid.
Leo wouldn't look at her. He pressed himself against my leg and stared at the floor.
"That's okay," Dr. Anand said. She didn't crouch down. Didn't try to make eye contact. Just gestured toward the toys. "You can play with anything you want. Or you can just sit. Whatever feels right."
Leo didn't move for ten minutes. Then he walked over to the basket and pulled out a box of wooden blocks.
He built a tower. Careful. Precise. Stacking each block with his tongue between his teeth in concentration. When it was as tall as his shoulder, he stopped. Looked at it. Then he swung his arm and knocked the whole thing down.
The blocks scattered across the floor.
He built it again. Knocked it down again.
Again.
Again.
Dr. Anand watched. Took notes. Said nothing.
Afterward, in the hallway, she turned to me.
"He's processing," she said. "This is exactly what he needs. He's rebuilding something he has control over, then destroying it on his terms. It's healthy."
I nodded. My throat was too tight to speak.
---
Keyla posted a photo that night. Sunset over the Hudson. The caption read: *Some things are just meant to be.*
I saw it because someone texted me the screenshot. Then another person. Then five more.
I opened Instagram. Scrolled through her feed. A restaurant Marcelo and I used to go to. A dress nearly identical to one I'd worn to a charity gala two years ago. A candid shot of her laughing, head thrown back, in front of a movie poster for Marcelo's next film.
She wasn't tagging me. She didn't have to.
My phone buzzed. A link. Late-night talk show clip. I clicked it.
Marcelo sat across from the host, eyes red, voice breaking. "I made a mistake," he said. "I'm a man who made a terrible mistake. But I love my son. I just want to see him. That's all I want."
The audience applauded.
I watched it once. Closed the laptop. Went back to the acquisition projections on my desk.
Let them clap. Let them cry for him.
I had work to do.
