~Narrator's~

"He didn’t raise his voice once."

Blair folds her arms. Her eyes are narrowed but not in judgment…just shock. The room is occupied with low chatter and quick keyboard clicks as three interns fumble over a messy PR spreadsheet on the digital screen. Reo is leaning forward in his seat with his elbows resting on the edge of the table, not towering or tense. Just present.

“No, we don’t delete the thread,” he says. “We clarify the numbers. If we retract everything, it’ll look like we’re hiding something.”

The younger, wide-eyed staffers nod. One of them accidentally clicks the wrong tab again, and a flood of messy code fills...