[Jake's POV]
The drive back to Apex Tower was quiet in the wrong way.
Not peaceful. Not thoughtful. It was the kind of silence people held when everyone knew the first person to speak would make the problem real. Claire sat beside me with her tablet open, the glow cutting sharp lines across her face. Ethan sat opposite us, one hand pressed carefully against his ribs, eyes fixed on the city lights sliding past the window. Darius rode in front, still as a locked door.
Sofia's digital signature had appeared thirty minutes ago.
That should have been impossible.
Sofia Aldridge did not authorize emergency board sessions through loose channels. She hated disorder. She hated rushed signatures. She hated men touching her company without permission even more than she hated being underestimated. Sofia could turn a boardroom into a courtroom with one raised eyebrow and make guilty men thank her for the sentence.
If her signature was real, then she was alive and acting under pressure.
