“It’s wasteful. And excessive—and that’s coming from someone with a mild shopping addiction.”
Ethan chuckled. “You’ll eat it.”
“I will not eat four sandwiches.” I pushed the door open, still shaking my head, and frowned as light spilled across the floor, voices drifting down the hall. “That’s odd.”
We stepped inside, the warmth of the apartment settling around us. I reached out automatically to relieve some of the weight from Ethan’s arms as we moved toward the living room—then halted.
Everyone turned.
Elena was by the coffee table, Raúl beside her. Mateo leaned against the wall, arms crossed. Aria perched on the arm of the sofa like she’d been waiting for us to arrive, and Oliver lingered near the window.
And Henry?—
At the front of the room, Henry stood with a marker in hand, a massive whiteboard set up behind him, the furniture rearranged to make space.
“Oh good,” he said brightly. “You brought food.”
I blinked, my brain still struggling to catch up. “What’s this?”
Henry gestured toward the board. “Isn’t it obvious?” He spread his arms like an orchestra conductor cueing a performance, a wide grin breaking across his face. “It’s aworktervention.”
I let out a short laugh, caught off guard, the shock still keeping me rooted in place.
Ethan nudged my arm as he passed, drawing my attention to the unmistakable satisfaction on his face. “Told you it wasn’t too much,” he murmured, winking. Then, louder, “Okay, who’shungry?” He took the bags from my hand and headed toward the group like he’d known exactly what he was walking into.
“So this is why you weren’t answering your phone?” I asked Elena.
She grinned. “Your brothers said you were finally ready to listen to the voice of reason. I couldn’t stay behind and let them take all the credit.” Her expression softened. “And this is ours, Ash. We built it together. We’ll save it together.”
The words lodged somewhere deep, leaving me momentarily without a response.
“And I’m here because no one knows how to talk Sebastian Langley out of a crisis better than me,” Aria announced, crossing her arms. “Or force him out of it.”
A quiet laugh slipped out of me.
Raúl stepped closer, looking as unimpressed as ever. “And I have the connections to make sure you can act fast.”
Oliver pushed off the wall, already halfway through a thought. “State contracts are what’s bleeding you right now,” he said, like we were picking up a conversation we’d already been having. “You don’t fix that—you sidestep it.” His gaze met mine. “There’s room in private infrastructure—energy, logistics, smaller-scale developments that don’t get tied up in red tape. Mid-size municipal partnerships, too. Less exposure, faster turnaround.”
I held his gaze, caught between pride and something harder to swallow. He’d already mapped it out.
“We reallocate resources out of the stalled contracts, prioritize projects with shorter cycles, and bring in private capital where we need liquidity. You tighten the pipeline, keep cash moving, and you’re not stuck waiting on approvals to stabilize.”
Aria waved a hand toward Oliver. “See?” she said, giving me a pointed look. “Right on cue—the financial genius.”
Something in my head kicked into gear, chasing the path Oliver had just laid out. Not fixed, but within reach.
Then our attention went to the last piece of the lineup—Mateo, still leaning against the wall.
His eyebrows lifted. “I’ve got nothing.” He jerked his thumb toward Henry. “I’m here for emotional support ofthisLangley.”
A ripple of laughter moved through the room, and I felt some of the weight I’d been carrying finally ease. Enough that I didn’t feel like I was bracing anymore.
Elena’s hand came to rest on my shoulder. “When we started this,” she said, “you told me you wanted the CFO role so you could have more time. So you could build a life outside of work.”
Ethan drifted back to my side, close enough that our arms brushed. I slipped mine around his back without thinking.
“You also said you’d need me to remind you of that,” Elena continued. “So here I am. Yes, we’re in a crisis. We’ll solve it. And then you’re going to step back and remember what life looks like outside your office. Okay?”
