Chapter 78. A Meeting

“Camila, are you even listening?” Her assistant’s voice cut sharply through the fog of her thoughts during a Monday morning meeting, breaking through the protective shell she had wrapped around herself.

“Sorry, what?” Camila glanced up, blinking against the glare of the fluorescent office lights, trying to anchor herself back to reality. Her brown eyes, usually so sharp and focused, looked distant, as if they were scanning a world far removed from the sterile conference room.

“Your 3 PM with the investors? They want your final decision on the proposal,” her assistant pressed, eyebrows raised in concern.

Camila’s hand hovered over the stack of papers in front of her, each sheet filled with numbers and projections that blurred together under her distracted gaze. “Right, of course,” she said, her voice flat, the usual assertiveness stripped away. “Just reschedul