It isn’t a yes.
But it isn’t a no either.
And judging by the way Brent exhales, that might be all the leverage they need.
Chapter seven
Lila
Iwalk into the morning meeting expecting reassurance.
Maybe a calm recap. Maybe Sasha telling me we have options. Maybe someone saying,It’s okay, you freaked out, totally human, we’ll pivot.
Instead, I walk into an ambush.
Everyone is already there.
Every chair filled. Papers spread neatly across the table like evidence in a very polite courtroom drama.
Sasha stands the second I step inside. Not angry. Not cold. Just decisive in the way that makes my stomach sink.
“Sit,” she says.
I hesitate, then lower myself into the chair at the head of the table. My pulse picks up.
Manny leans against the wall to my right, arms crossed.
Sasha slides a document toward me.
The first page stops my breath.
I don’t need to read the rest to know exactly what it is.
The contract.
The one I didn’t sign. The one I didn’t ask for. The one that looks bigger than I remember it. Like it's been multiplying after midnight. Like a gremlin.
“Before you panic,” Sasha says, lifting a hand when my mouth opens, “this is a draft. Nothing is finalized.”
“Why,” I ask slowly, “is there a draft at all?”
Sasha’s expression softens just a notch. Enough to tell me she knows this hurts.
“ERS legal,” she says, gesturing to a man I recognize as the ERS lawyer, Noah, “has been working nonstop.”
My stomach drops.
“You had the ERS legal team plan for my marriage,” I say. “Without me.”
“We planned for protection,” she says. “Marriage is just the mechanism.”
I search the room for someone to disagree with her. Noah won’t meet my eyes. Manny’s jaw tightens, but he stays quiet.
Another page slides across the table.
I glance down and immediately blink.
Then I read it again.
