"Good. Coffee and food in the lounge. Keep people comfortable. And get someone from the kitchen to confirm dietary needs—if anyone has restrictions that require specific items from their rooms, that's the second call."
Cufflink stepped forward. "Now wait just a—"
"Victor." I didn't raise my voice. "You have a board meeting in London. I have an acquisition closing in Florida. Neither of us is going to get there faster by making Sarah's job harder."
No one rushed to help him.
Alina’s mouth curved slightly. Naomi wisely kept her applause internal.
The asshole stepped back like he was doing the veranda a favor. “Fine. But I want updates. Regular updates.”
"I'm sure Sarah will provide them." I picked up my coffee. "In the meantime, the lounge has better chairs and significantly less direct sunlight."
The group obeyed, which they would have hated if they’d noticed. Sarah caught my eye as she passed, her expression somewhere between gratitude and bewilderment.
"Thank you," she said quietly.
"Don't thank me yet. The timeline is real. Your road access is the bottleneck."
She nodded and disappeared into the lounge.
I stayed on the veranda, my coffee cooling in my hands, watching the service yard.
Nick appeared from behind the gatehouse, radio in hand, his body still except for the small shift of his thumb against the receiver. He spoke briefly with Elias, gestured toward the fence line, then turned toward the lodge.
His stride didn't change when he saw me. His expression didn't soften. But his eyes found mine across the gravel, and for one second, the hard line of his mouth loosened. He looked like he was holding the morning together with discipline, muscle memory, and very little sleep.
He stopped at the edge of the veranda, one hand resting on the rail. "You made it."
"Daniel was persuasive."
"He's good at that." He checked me once, head to boots, fast enough to pretend it was professional.
"I'm undercaffeinated and improperly dressed, but otherwise functional."
The corner of his mouth twitched. "Better than most of them."
"Low bar."
"Always is."
A ranger approached with a clipboard. Nick took it without looking away from me, signed the bottom, and handed it back. The ranger disappeared.
"Road?" I asked.
"Still closed. We're sweeping the high ground. Should have clearance within the hour."
"Victor is going to need updates."
"The idiot is going to need to wait."
"I told Sarah to manage him."
Something shifted in his expression. Not quite a smile, but close. “You got them moving.”
"I gave them categories. People like categories."
"You gave them you." He leaned forward, his voice dropping low enough that only I could hear. “You took a room full of noise and made it operational. In under three minutes.”
