The resistance did not show up with noise. It slid in with efficiency. Three days after Lynda refused the offer, things began to shift. Not in loud, obvious ways you could point at. More like patterns emerging: a meeting set for Boston suddenly " postponed indefinitely "; a funding talk in Chicago now needed ‘’extended review’’ in New York; a partnership just went silent with no explanation at all. By themselves, these things meant little. Altogether, they sent a message.

Lynda picked ...