Fifteen companies.
Twenty minutes each.
One contract that could rewrite the next decade of the city.
The tension inside the Meridian Development Final Presentation facility hit me the second we stepped through the security gates. Holloway Avenue's industrial steel exterior did nothing to soften what waited inside: glass partitions, officials with tablets, and representatives from every company trying to look more confident than they actually were.
Gray & Milton filed in behind Hale, all dressed, all silent, all pretending this wasn't the biggest morning of our careers.
Except Ji-ho.
He looked like this was a field trip.
We reached the inner waiting hall just as the first company was called in. The double doors swallowed them, and the digital timer above the wall flicked to 20:00. It began counting down, red numbers glowing like the pressure was physical.
I exhaled slowly.
