Page 184 of Secret Heir For The Billionaire Twin

Tamara takes it without comment.

“Do you want the Vanguard briefing before they come in?”

“No.”

“You haven’t read the writer notes.”

“I read the project scope.”

“That wasn’t my question.”

I look up at her.

Tamara waits.

“No,” I repeat.

She exhales through her nose, already irritated with me.

“Fine. I’ll have them brought up at 10:30.”

“Good.”

The retrospective has been sitting on my calendar for weeks without earning much attention beyond the time Elena insisted it required. Blackwell has spent years explaining itself to regulators, shareholders, analysts, journalists, and anyone else who believed access entitled them to an opinion. One more long-form examination of where the company has been and where it is going barely registers against the rest of my day.

The only reason I agreed to it at all is because Adrian and Elena both made the same argument: after seven years of allowing the antitrust case to define too much of the public record, Blackwell should participate in something comprehensive enough to put the entire arc in context.

I told them to handle it, and they did.

My involvement begins and ends with answering questions when somebody places them in front of me.

Tamara turns toward the door, then pauses.

“Elena said the publication changed the lead writer.”

That gets half a second of my attention.

“Problem?”

“No. Vanguard made the change internally.”

“Then it’s their concern.”

Tamara studies me as though she is deciding whether I need more information.

I don’t.

“Anything else?” I ask.

“Not unless you plan to rearrange the rest of my schedule before noon.”

“No promises.”

“That’s exactly what I was afraid of.”

She leaves with the signed documents, closing the door behind her.

I turn back to the financial projections on my monitor and spend the next hour moving between calls, approvals, and a short conversation with Adrian about Singapore. By 10:26, I have forgotten the retrospective session is next until Tamara’s voice comes through the desk phone.