The week following the official registration of Golden Investments didn't just move; it blurred.
It wasn't the kind of cinematic, high-octane chaos that made for good television, but rather a relentless, grinding momentum of administrative gravity.
Every hour arrived with its own weight: a flurry of encrypted documents from Samuel Carter's office, late-night strategy pings from Adrian, and exhaustive spreadsheets from Noah that required a level of focus Jake usually reserved for the gold charts.
Even Leon seemed to have found a new hobby in calling Jake to debate the aesthetic merits of a company logo before pivoting sharply into the viability of regional infrastructure bonds.
Jake met the pressure with his trademark outward composure, but by Friday evening, the silence of his apartment forced him to confront the one thing he had pushed to the periphery. He had neglected Catharine.
