Monday morning arrived like a verdict.
By the time Nora walked into Cross Technologies at 8:55, the building already knew. She could feel it — the way conversations paused when she stepped out of the elevator, the careful non-stares of people who were very much staring, the sudden interest in laptop screens as she walked down the hall.
James Holt was waiting outside the conference room. He looked like a man who had not slept.
"Ms. Walsh," he said carefully.
"James." She stopped. "Whatever you're about to say, save it for after the meeting."
He closed his mouth. Nodded.
She pushed open the conference room doors.
The room was full. Fuller than usual. Word had spread — half the executive team had found reasons to be present for a meeting that should have involved four people. They arranged themselves with the careful casualness of people pretending they had always planned to be here.
Damien was already at the head of the table.
He looked rested. Or at least, he looked like a man who had decided to appear rested. He watched her walk in with an expression that was completely neutral — the boardroom mask, the one she had seen a hundred times and never once been able to read.
She took her seat directly across from him.
"Thank you all for coming," she said, looking around the table at the faces that weren't supposed to be here. "Though I note this was scheduled as a four-person meeting."
A few people had the grace to look uncomfortable.
"Shall we begin?" Damien said.
"One moment." Nora opened her folder and slid a single document down the table toward him. "Before we discuss the integration timeline, I want to address the article directly."
Damien glanced at the document but didn't touch it.
"Yes," she said, looking around the room. "I am the former Mrs. Cross. That is now public knowledge and I won't pretend otherwise. It is also entirely irrelevant to the business at hand." She paused. "NovaTech's acquisition was negotiated at arm's length, reviewed by independent counsel on both sides, and approved by both boards. The personal history between Mr. Cross and myself has no bearing on the terms, the timeline, or the integration plan."
She folded her hands on the table.
"If anyone in this room has concerns about a conflict of interest, I invite them to raise it now, with legal present, so we can address it formally and move on."
Silence.
Nobody spoke.
"Good," Nora said. She turned to the first page of the integration report. "Phase Two. Let's begin."
She ran the meeting for ninety minutes. By the end of it, the executives who had come to watch a spectacle were taking notes.
As the room emptied, David Park — the Head of Engineering who had doubted her three-month timeline — stopped beside her chair.
"For what it's worth," he said quietly, "the Phase Two breakdown is the best integration plan I've seen in fifteen years."
"I know," Nora said.
He almost smiled. "Right." He walked out.
Damien was the last one in the room.
"That was well done," he said.
"It was necessary," she replied, snapping her folder shut.
"Both things can be true."
She looked up at him.
"What do you want, Damien?"
He was quiet for a moment. "I want to understand why you came back. The real reason. Not the acquisition. Not the business strategy." His eyes were steady on hers. "Why here. Why now. Why me."
Nora held his gaze for a long, measured moment.
"Because unfinished business keeps you up at night," she said. "And I intend to sleep very well when this is over."
She picked up her bag and walked out.