Sophia did not wake up thinking about Michael, but the thought found her anyway.It slipped in quietly while she was brushing her teeth, standing barefoot on the cool tiles of her apartment, staring at her reflection with a seriousness that had become familiar. The summit was two days away. She had marked the date, reviewed the agenda, highlighted the sections relevant to her advisory role, and sent feedback to her team. Everything was organised. Everything was in place. Yet beneath the order she had imposed on her life, there was an awareness she could not pretend away.She was going to see him again.Not on a screen. Not as a distant voice filtered through speakers. In the same room. The same space. Close enough to feel presence, not just hear words. Sophia acknowledged the reality without flinching. She had trained herself over the past months to sit with uncomfortable truths instead of running from them. Leaving Donovan Industries hadn't been an emotional collapse. It had bee

The breakout room assignment appeared on the screen with no warning and no room for negotiation.Michael glanced at the list briefly as delegates dispersed into smaller groups, each assigned a specific focus area. Strategy alignment. Long-term viability. Risk mitigation. When his eyes moved down the column and landed on the names attached to his room, he did not react outwardly. He simply noted it, the same way he noted everything else that day, with a disciplined calm that had become second nature.Sophia noticed at the same time.For a fleeting second, her step slowed as she read the assignment on her tablet. Michael Ainsley. Strategy Room C. She inhaled quietly and continued walking, refusing to allow the coincidence to rattle her. This was not a trap. It was not intentional. It was logistics. She reminded herself of that as she entered the room and took a seat across the long, narrow table.The door closed behind them with a muted click.The room itself was unremarkable. Neut

The call came just after dusk, cutting through the low hum of activity in the summit headquarters.Michael was halfway through reviewing revised schedules when his phone vibrated sharply against the table. He glanced at the screen, noted the caller ID, and answered without preamble.“Yes.”The voice on the other end did not bother with pleasantries. One of the consortium’s largest private investors had concerns, serious ones. Currency exposure. Political risk. A lack of assurance on phased returns. The tone was firm, bordering on final.“They’re threatening to pull out,” the liaison said. “If they do, others will follow.”Michael didn't respond immediately. He walked to the window, looking down at the dimly lit courtyard below, then asked a single question. “How much time?”“Until morning,” the liaison replied. “They want revised guarantees before market open.”Michael ended the call and stood still for a moment. Then he turned, already moving toward the conference area.Within minu

The shift was subtle at first.It began with looks that lingered a second too long during corridor conversations, with pauses that stretched just enough to suggest unfinished thoughts. Meetings that had always been straightforward began carrying an undercurrent of calculation, as if every exchange were being quietly weighed for meaning beyond its surface.Michael noticed it without being told.He noticed it when a junior executive stopped mid-sentence and restarted with different wording after Sophia walked into the room. He noticed it when an investor laughed a little too easily at a comment that hadn’t been intended as humour. He noticed it when a liaison casually asked whether “alignment” at the summit had gone beyond projections and numbers.None of it was explicit. That was what made it dangerous.By the third day of the summit, the speculation had taken on a life of its own, moving not through formal channels but through the spaces in between, private messages, informal dinne

The conference centre had thinned out by evening, the low hum of voices replaced by the soft echo of footsteps and the distant clatter of staff resetting rooms for the next day. Michael remained behind after the final briefing, not because he had more work to do, but because leaving felt premature. He stood near the long glass wall overlooking the city, jacket off, sleeves rolled just enough to signal the day was winding down.Sophia arrived a few minutes later.She did not announce herself. She never had to. He sensed her presence the way he always used to, through a shift in the room's balance, a quiet awareness that sharpened his focus instead of pulling it apart. She placed her tablet on the table, took a seat opposite him, and waited.This time, there was no careful entry point."No boundaries tonight," she said. "No positioning. Just us."Michael nodded once. "Agreed."They sat in silence for a few seconds, not because either was searching for words, but because both understo