Chapter 133

• The email arrived just after sunrise. I had been standing by the kitchen counter with a mug of coffee cooling between my hands, half-watching the steam rise, half-listening to the quiet hum of the fridge. The subject line read simply: Invitation: Cultural Sustainability Summit – Paris.
• For a moment, I thought it was one of those industry newsletters I never signed up for but somehow kept receiving. The kind you delete without opening. But the sender’s name was familiar—one of the summit coordinators I had met briefly in Milan years ago, back when I was still watching the industry from the sidelines, pretending I didn’t miss being part of it.
• I opened the email slowly, my finger hesitating over the screen.