The next day dragged in that special way only corporate days know how to drag.

Half the staff looked half-dead by noon, and by four-thirty we were already in crisis mode because one of our manuscripts had leaked online. Cue emergency meeting, frantic damage control, and a boardroom full of people trying to look awake.

By five-thirty, my brain felt like warm oatmeal.

Everyone else looked the same.

Except Alexander.

Of course.

He sat at the head of the table, posture perfect, face ...