“Great. I’m getting advice from a coffee cup.” Daisy turned up the volume. “I need some Iron Man catharsis.”

“What happens at the end of this one?” Layla curled up on the couch. “Does he die by poisoning or shrapnel?”

“You’ll have to wait and see.”

* * *

• • •

SILENCE greeted Daisy when she walked into the office on Monday morning. Two months ago, she wouldn’t have given it a second thought, but now that she was used to the sounds of people talking, phones ringing, printers humming, chairs creaking, and papers rustling, the silence felt oppressive and wrong.

She carefully placed her coffee cup three inches to the left of the desk separation so Mia didn’t knock it over when she arrived. Her bag went underneath instead of on top because Zoe needed the extra space for her designs. And she pulled her chair close to her desk so Josh wouldn’t bang into her when he leaned back to talk.

Once her headphones were on, and her screen flickered to life, she was ready to work. She stared at the lines of code, trying to remember the bug fix she’d thought of last night. But it was too quiet. Now used to the distractions, she couldn’t focus despite the music in her ears.

Zoe arrived just as she decided to hit the coffee bar and catch up on gossip. Daisy edged over to give her more room, but Zoe didn’t unload her portfolio as usual.

Daisy pulled off her headphones. “Where is everyone?”

“You didn’t hear?” Zoe slumped into her seat. “I thought Liam would have told you. We pitched the rebrand. Brad didn’t like it. He went ahead with his unicorns and rainbows. Tyler sent the revised pitch deck with Brad’s rebrand to the Evolution partners. They rejected it, so Tyler had to make some more cuts. Thirty percent in every department.”

Daisy’s heart leaped into her throat. “Oh no. I can’t believe it.”

“Mia’s gone.” Zoe’s eyes glittered with tears. “Tyler asked for volunteers and she didn’t want me to get cut because I have Lily, so she said she’d go. I feel sick about it. Josh was furious. He said there were lots of incompetent people in our department for Tyler to choose from and there was no reason for Mia to throw herself on her sword. He went to talk to Tyler about reinstating her and wound up handing in his notice.”

Nausea roiled in Daisy’s belly. She should have been here. Instead, she’d used her post-concussion medical leave to wallow in self-pity when her friends needed her the most. “Why didn’t anyone call me?”

“We thought you knew because you and Liam . . .” She trailed off when Daisy shook her head.

“We ended our arrangement.”

“I’m so sorry.” She leaned over to give Daisy a hug. “I know you said it wasn’t real, but when I saw you two together, I kind of thought it was.”

So did I.

An hour later, Tyler called her to his office. Slumped in his chair, back to rumpled shirts, missing ties, and unkempt hair, he looked even worse than she’d felt at the end of her MCU movie marathon.

“You heard?”

“Yes. I’m so sorry, Tyler.” She fisted her skirt in her lap. “I had hoped it would work out with Evolution.”

“They said we weren’t a good fit.” He swallowed hard, his face flushing. For a moment, Daisy thought he was going to burst into tears. “It wasn’t just the product. They were looking for something more cutting-edge.”

“Were they talking about the branding?”

Tyler nodded. “I watched Mia and Zoe’s branding pitch. It was fantastic. I could see the boxes on the shelves, the ads, the website. It was Organicare. It was our original vision. I couldn’t believe that Brad rejected it.” He scraped a hand over his face. “I called Liam, and he told me Brad was the only expert he could find who was even interested in working with our products. He agreed that Brad’s ideas weren’t in line with current market trends and he had no problem if we wanted to cut him loose, but . . .” He shook his head. “Brad had three times the experience of the most senior members of our team, a big name in the industry, and so many successful campaigns—”

“But not with this kind of product,” Daisy pointed out. “And not in this political climate. That’s probably why he had the time for us in the first place. He was out of touch and no one wanted to hire him.”

“I was just too afraid to let him go.” Tyler buried his head in his hands. “Too afraid to go with Zoe and Mia’s ideas instead of his. I’ve made so many mistakes. I was afraid to make one more, even though my gut was telling me that Brad’s ideas wouldn’t resonate with our target market.”

“You did what you thought was best for the company,” Daisy said softly. “Everyone knows that.”

“I failed them.” His shoulders heaved and he let out a ragged sob. “I failed our team, our company, the customers who loved our products, and all the girls we could have helped through our outreach program. I was afraid to trust my instincts. I was afraid to take a chance, and now everything is gone.”

* * *

• • •

“CONGRATULATIONS. Welcome to the partnership.”

Liam felt like he’d been waiting a lifetime to hear those words. As he shook hands with the managing partners, Eric Davis and Kevin Mah, he imagined his dad looking down on him, and gave a mental finger to the old man who had never thought he’d amount to anything.

“We were impressed with your work,” Eric said. “You have the largest portfolio of any senior associate, great industry contacts, and a history of sound investment decisions. Finding and working up companies like Organicare is exactly the kind of initiative that has made you so valuable to the company. If we hadn’t just shut down our consumer products portfolio, they would have been worth another look, even with their branding redesign disaster.”