He tried another angle.

“He is prepared to return immediately and cooperate.”

“He can cooperate with the people who are already speaking to him,” I said.

“He does not need my permission for that.”

When I ended the call, I sat down on the stairs.

For a moment the adrenaline thinned and the grief arrived, not as a collapse, but as a precise inventory.

I had loved the version of Daniel who stayed late at the office because he wanted the company to grow.