Chapter 52 · Gate at NAIA

"Say her name again," I said. "Finish it."

Grant's mouth was still open around the shape of the sentence he hadn't finished. Rosa Santos. My mother's name, sitting there on his tongue like a coin he didn't want to spend yet.

"Finish it, Grant." Jae's voice came from beside me, flat, no heat in it at all, which was somehow worse than shouting. "You started something. The room's waiting."

Grant closed his mouth. Opened it again. "It's not the time."

"You made it the time," I said. "You put her name on the table. You don't get to pick it back up."

The boardroom had gone the kind of quiet where I could hear the aircon cycling. Bianca's smirk had gone somewhere to hide. Even the recording light on the corner camera looked like it was holding its breath.

Corazon's chair scraped. She stood, both palms flat on the table like she was bracing a ship.

"Enough," she said. "This meeting is adjourned."

"No," I said. "It's not."

Heads turned.