Alora's POV
By the time I got back to the penthouse that evening the story had been handled.
I knew this because Diana had sent a summary at eleven forty-seven AM — efficient, bullet-pointed, the kind of communication that contained exactly the information required and nothing decorative. Three outlets had issued corrections. Two had removed the caption. One had taken the story down entirely. The word sources had been replaced, where it remained, with unverified claims. Miller Corp's official statement had gone out at ten-fifteen: brief, precise, the thirty-eight-word variety that said nothing specific and communicated everything necessary.
I'd read the summary on my break, standing in the back hallway with my phone and the particular sounds of a diner mid-service around me. I'd read it twice. I'd put my phone in my apron pocket and gone back to table nine.
