NICHOLAS’S POV

Some mornings start quietly,low and misleadingly calm. The kind that makes you think the world will leave you alone.

My phone rang first this morning as I stepped out of the shower.

I almost ignored it, thinking it was another update from the legal department or some meaningless corporate memo.

When I saw the name of my legal head flash across the screen, my chest tightened out of worry.

“Sir,” he started when I answered, his voice taut, urgent.

“We have a development. ...