Ryder.

She never stops surprising me.

I asked her what she wanted. Laid it out plainly, name your terms, tell me what you need from this arrangement. I'd sat across from enough people in enough boardrooms to know exactly how that conversation goes. Everyone has a list. Everyone comes prepared with their demands stacked and ready, each one bigger than the last, waiting for the moment someone with money and power tells them to ask for anything.

She asked for revenge.

And money for her grandmother's treatment.

That was it.

I remember the way I'd looked at her for a moment after she said it. Just a beat long enough...