A beat. A breath.
“That’s why you’ll lose.” He says it without heat, without even malice. Just cold certainty.
I clench my jaw. “I’d rather lose on integrity than win your way.”
Brittle silence hums between us. He doesn’t even hear me. He’s already slipped somewhere else, into some boardroom battle that ended decades ago.
“Spoken like someone who’s never had to choose between principle and survival,” he mutters at last.
“Spoken like someone who chose wrong. Over and over.”
The line goes quiet. I can hear his breath, faint and unsteady on the other side.
When he speaks again, his voice is cold as ever. “Don’t call me when it falls apart.”
Click.
The line goes dead.
I set my phone on the edge of the table, let out a breath then sink the cue ball without aiming and step back from the table.
A familiar voice cuts through the static in my chest.
“You planning on hustling strangers or just brooding over billiards like Batman?”
Rishi strolls up and nods at my drink. “You good?”
“Fine,” I lie.
He doesn’t buy it. Never does. Orders us two beers and drops onto a stool.
“You’ve been off lately,” he says, swiping a fry. I smile at that. “Even before the last team meeting. You’re phoning in. You don’t phone anything in. Not even your hair.”
I drag a hand through it. “I’m mulling over mistakes.”
He raises a brow. “What kind?”
“The Rorie Adams kind.”
He stills.
“She sent a thank-you email for this gift I got her. Cautious. Polite. I replied with corporate ice—ended before things got complicated.”
Rishi winces. “You hit her with a business-class breakup?”
“Yup.” I scrub a hand over my jaw. “It was stupid. I panicked. I read some viral post aboutlovebombingand got it in my head that I was doing too much. Being too much.”
“And now?”
“Now I’m pretending I don’t think about her every damn day. She didn’t even reply. And I don’t blame her.”
He watches me.
“She’s smart,” I add. “Scary smart. Funny as hell. Talented. Strategic. And she got under my skin so fast I still don’t know how she did it.”
“So go fix it.”
“I’m the one who bailed.”
