The next three days were different.
Not because the crisis had resolved.
The crisis had not resolved.
Victor still had the photograph.
The misconduct review was ongoing.
The engagement was still public.
The board was still watching.
None of that had changed.
What had changed was the direction they were moving.
---
They built something.
Not reactively.
Not in response to a move Victor had made.
Together.
From the beginning.
---
Damian had been thinking about it since before the filing.
Since the terrace, if he was honest.
Since Kendrick had said let's play offense and he had said together and the word had landed with the specific weight of something that meant more than its practical content.
He had been thinking: what does offense look like here.
Not legal offense — that was Marcus, that was Walker legal, that was the Garrett misconduct complaint and whatever came next.
Something else.
