Lily dropped her oversized leather tote onto the chair, unwinding a thick scarf from her neck. She looked significantly better than she had on Friday. The dark circles under her eyes were fading, replaced by a restless, caffeinated energy.
"You're fine," Sarah smiled, pushing a steaming oat milk latte across the table. "I already ordered your usual."
"You are an actual angel," Lily groaned, wrapping her hands around the warm mug. She took a long sip and let out a happy sigh. "Okay. Update me. You texted me that you quit? Tell me you set Ryan's desk on fire."
"I left it intact, but the ego damage was severe," Sarah laughed.
For the next twenty minutes, Sarah walked Lily through the entire timeline—the gala, the horrifying realization about Emily and Ryan's baby, Julian stepping in, and the icy resignation she had delivered yesterday morning.
Lily sat with her mouth slightly open, completely appalled. "I am going to fly to London, hire a pub brawler, bring him back here, and have both Ryan and Emily thrown into Lake Michigan."
"As tempting as that sounds, I have a better idea for revenge," Sarah said, her eyes gleaming. She turned her notebook around, sliding it across the table. The top of the page read: Bennett Architectural Consulting.
"I'm starting my own firm," Sarah announced. "I'm selling the house to fund it. I'm going to consult on major commercial projects and take Ryan's clients right out from under him."
Lily stared at the notebook, her eyes scanning the bulleted lists of business plans, target demographics, and initial budgeting. "Sarah, this is brilliant. This is exactly what you should be doing. But..." she tapped a perfectly manicured fingernail against a blank section on the page. "Your branding plan is nonexistent. Your visual identity is completely blank. Sarah, you can't walk into a room and ask luxury developers for atwo-million-dollar contract by handing them a generic business card."
Sarah sighed, leaning back in her chair. "I know. I can design a structural grid that can withstand a hurricane, but I don't know the first thing about typography or client acquisition. I was going to look for a freelance graphic designer once the house sells."
Lily went very quiet. She looked down at her latte, then up at Sarah. The restless, adrift energy she had been carrying since she got back suddenly focused into a sharp, terrifyingly bright laser beam.
"Sarah," Lily said slowly. "I was an art director for three years in London. I ran entire branding campaigns for multimillion-dollar firms. I know how to make a company look expensive, exclusive, and necessary."
Sarah blinked. "I know you do. You're amazing at it."
"I'm currently unemployed," Lily continued, leaning forward, her eyes lighting up with the thrill of a idea. "I came back to the States to run away from Ethan, but I have absolutely no idea what I'm doing next. I don't want to go back to a corporate agency. I want to build something from the ground up."
The realization hit Sarah like a lightning bolt. She sat up straight, her heart hammering against her ribs. "Lily... are you saying what I think you're saying?"
"We both just had our entire foundations kicked out from under us," Lily said fiercely, reaching across the table to grab Sarah’s hands. "We both got betrayed by the people we trusted most. So let's use it. Make me a partner. You handle the architecture, the zoning, the structural brilliance. I handle the branding, the visual identity, the website, and the clientacquisition. We pitch ourselves as a full-package consulting duo."
Sarah looked at her best friend. They had survived terrible bridesmaid dresses, terrible men, and the absolute destruction of their personal lives. The thought of stepping out onto this terrifying ledge alone had been daunting. But doing it with Lily? Building a business together suddenly felt like the most natural, bulletproof idea in the world.
Sarah picked up her coffee mug, holding it out over the center of the table.
"Fifty-fifty split," Sarah said, a massive, unstoppable smile taking over her face. "We launch next month."
Lily clinked her mug against Sarah's, the ceramic ringing out like a bell. "Let's go build an empire."
Chapter Eight
Julian
The boardroom at Novus Urban Innovations was a theater of glass and chrome, designed specifically to intimidate. The long, polished table usually sat twelve of the most ruthless real estate executives in the city.
Julian Pierce knew this room well. He had sat in these exact leather chairs, brokering multi-million-dollar engineering contracts. But today, he wasn’t here to negotiate. He was here to watch.
He stood quietly in the shadows at the very back of the room, having slipped in through the rear doors just as the lights dimmed. Sebastian, the CEO of Novus, had given Julian a subtle nod of acknowledgment before turning his attention back to the front of the room.
At the head of the table stood Sarah.
Julian leaned against the cool glass wall, crossing his arms over his chest, his heart swelling with an absolutely devastating amount of pride.
She was wearing a sharp, tailored emerald-green suit that made her look like a weapon. Beside her, Lily was manning the projector, flawlessly navigating through a presentation that looked like it belonged on the cover of a high-end architectural digest. The branding for Bennett & Mendoza Consulting wassleek, authoritative, and impossibly expensive-looking. Lily had done a masterful job.
But it was Sarah who commanded the oxygen in the room.
"The waterfront warehouses aren't just empty square footage," Sarah said, her voice steady, clear, and ringing with absolute authority. She tapped a laser pointer against the screen, highlighting the historic brickwork. "They are the industrial spine of this city. Ryan Sinclair architecture’s proposal suggested gutting the interior and relying on steel-beam reinforcement to maximize retail space. But that approach ignores the structural fatigue of the foundation."
