The final three days before the launch compressed everything.
The showroom became a place of held breath and precise movement. Light levels were adjusted by single percentages.
Display heights were debated in low voices. The centrepiece necklace sat in its case like something that already knew its own worth.
Ethan moved through the space with the focused calm of someone who had already fought every internal battle the work required.
When Claire asked if he wanted to make one last change to the secondary chain arrangement, he only shook his head.
"It's finished," he said. "Leave it."
Gabriel spent most of those days on the upper floor or in closed-door meetings, but he found Ethan three times once in the materials room, once in the back corridor near the freight lift, and once, briefly, in the empty showroom after the team had gone home.
