When I laid the authorizations in front of him, he did not ask whether I was sure.

He asked how long I needed before the vote.

“I need him to move first,” I said.

“If I confront him now, he will hide what I have not found yet.”

Harold hated that answer and accepted it anyway.

“Do not wait so long that waiting becomes another gift you give him,” he said.

Chloe Ruiz had entered our life as a sentence.

Daniel mentioned a consultant who understood “cross-market positioning.” The phrase was empty and expensive, which should have been warning enough.