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Clarity.
“If we shut you down,” he adds, “we lose the advantage.”
I nod slowly.
Understanding clicking into place.
“He expects me to reduce,” I say.
“Yes.”
“And if I don’t—”
“He adjusts.”
“And that’s when we move.”
Our eyes meet.
Aligned.
Again.
That word—together—settling back into place without either of us saying it.
A small breath leaves me.
Not tension.
Release.
“I can do that,” I say.
Not forced.
Not defensive.
Choice.
“I know you can.”
Of course he does.
I glance back toward the table, where Boone is already shifting the layout, Russ speaking quietly into comms.
The team is moving.
Adapting.
Because of this.
Because of me.
But not in the way I first thought.
Not as a liability.
As a signal.
