Chapter 288

• I couldn’t meet Cassandra’s eyes.
• Her gaze icy, calculating cut like tempered glass, as if she'd spent years sharpening every word she now spoke. Harsh as they were, not a single one was a lie. And that, more than anything, made them unbearable.
• I had once believed I was on the rise. After the deal at Victory Point a merger that made national news I thought I'd finally carved out my own place. No longer just the daughter of a forgotten military executive turned consultant, I was a rising star in corporate strategy, heralded as a disruptor in the industry.