an'

te the personal from the professional. It's how I've survived the politics, the scandals,

, the way Isla Morgan challenged Nathan Ellis. There was no tre

ld've irr

it intr

steel towers, casting sharp shadows across my office. Georgia had sent me her file the moment Isla stepped into this building. Oxford. Summa cum lau

't hir

the top recommendation from Ellis' department. That a

fter the office dimmed, annotating financials with a pace most interns couldn't mimic. Reviewing campaign pitches that weren't even in her l

was she loo

ped me out o

in," I

ith Easton and Wei in twenty. They want a brie

them t

ke me. But I waved her off

the Morrison deck before

or staffers. One accessed it at 2 a

nce. "Brin

ated. "You wa

e how she han

, her loyalty, and something else I wasn't rea

sn't even meant for most department heads. But Isla walked in, not with the wid

his screen, already ann

on file before it leaked," I said. "Figu

idn't

row. "You sure she

Isla. "Let

t, and internal sabotage. The stakes were hypothetical.....but the environment was re

ving. Good. I wanted to see how lon

tes in,

ow but confident. "The timeline points to internal manipulatio

is eyes. "You say

s were real, we'd

nds loosely folded, like she didn't feel the we

nue,"

ree points of intervention. It wasn't perfect. But it was gut

under his breath. "We missed

a word, but his si

word. Wei gave Isla a lingering look, unreadab

indow, letting th

that," she sa

hat makes yo

high-level war-rooms unless yo

not most

lifted. "

then - recognition, tension. A

Morrison deck at

lagged a mistake. Thought that w

wa

ut

t play than wha

rypted message the same nigh

er. "You didn'

now if it

does

Someone had sent her that path deliberately. Someone within this com

war

eeded to find o

ry unexplained message. Every document

n order?"

protec

mine. "For yo

n't a

I stepp

ut this isn't a game. And if you're being

if I'

figure out why someone's trying s

something I'd regret. Or

ce, Georgia was

ssed them,

as mea

aking wav

re inevitable when someo

n't just a ripple. She w