Arianne had been away from the boardroom for several months, but she walked back into it like she'd never left.
The conference room was the same as it had always been: the long table, the high-backed chairs, the windows overlooking the city skyline. The same faces around the table. The same undercurrent of tension that always accompanied these meetings, the careful dance of power and influence that Arianne had learned to read years ago and had long since mastered.
