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I laugh. “I coordinate projects.”

“You coordinate disasters until they become success stories.”

Before I can argue, she’s already crossing the room, forcing me to follow.

Celia stands with two executives I recognize from industry panels and the founder of a cloud security company. Lena waits for a pause before stepping into the circle.

“Celia. Lena Ortiz, Wolf Shield.”

Recognition crosses Celia’s face as she shakes Lena’s hand. “Enterprise partnerships.”

Lena gestures toward me. “And this is Emma Love.”

Celia turns before Lena finishes speaking. “So you’re the famous Emma Love.” I blink. “I’ve wanted to meet you. I’ve heard a lot about your work.”

“My work?”

“The launch recovery.” She smiles. “When compliance delayed your rollout, most companies would’ve protected the schedule instead of the product. Wolf Shield did the opposite, and people noticed.”

The founder standing beside her nods. “Our implementation director brought your deployment structure into a leadership meeting last week. We’ve been picking it apart ever since.”

I can’t hide my surprise. “I didn’t realize anyone outside the company had seen it.”

“The Security Leadership Forum published a case study,” Celia says. “Recovering well teaches more than getting everything right the first time.”

The conversation moves before I can think of a reply. Celia asks why we split implementation into regional teams, so I explain how separating regulatory approvals stopped delays from spreading across the rollout.

The founder follows with questions about communication between departments, and another executive asks how we convinced leadership to accept a revised deployment schedule without losing confidence in the project.

The discussion lasts until the moderator calls everyone toward the stage. Celia slips a business card into my hand before she excuses herself. “My operations team would benefit from talking to you.”

“I’d be happy to.”

“I’ll have my assistant reach out.”

She disappears into the crowd, leaving me staring at the card in my hand before Lena steps beside me with a smile that says she expected exactly this outcome. “I’ve been set up.”

“I prefer the term ‘introduced.’”

“You knew she’d heard of me.”

“I knew she’d heard of the person who kept Wolf Shield from driving off a cliff.”

I tuck the card into my clutch and follow her through the ballroom, where one introduction rolls into another without giving me much time to think.

A vice president from a financial technology company recognizes my name from Theo’s presentation in Boston and thanks me for the escalation framework our team shared afterward.

A cybersecurity consultant asks whether I’d consider joining a leadership panel later in the year, and the strategy director from a global insurer tells me her department adapted part of our deployment process after reading the case study.

Lena guides us toward the windows. I slip another business card into my clutch, surprised by how full it’s become.

I glance around the ballroom, waiting for the conversation to shift the way it used to whenever I attended events with Spencer, but it never does.

His name stays exactly where it belongs, outside these walls, while people ask about the projects I’ve led, the decisions I’ve made, and the systems I’ve helped build at Wolf Shield.

By the time we reach the quieter corner overlooking the city, I realize nobody here needed an introduction to someone else before deciding I was worth talking to.

“You’ve been thinking,” she says.