Ivy hadn't planned on saying it out loud, not yet, not with everything else on fire, but sitting across from Sterling three nights later, watching him stare at a spreadsheet of shareholder percentages like it might rearrange itself if he glared hard enough, something in her decided the moment couldn't wait any longer.

"I want to go back to school," she said.

Sterling looked up, surprise flickering across his face, softening the tension there for the first time in hours. "For what."

"Design. Graphic design, specifically. I did some of it years ago, freelance, before everything with my father happened and I had to pick up whatever paid fastest instead...