Adair leaned his forehead against his son’s for a beat before whispering, “You’re my best thing, man. Always.”
“You’re mine too,” Ade responded so innocently, giving Adair an ache so deep he had to bite his lip just to keep from breaking down in front of his son. He pulled Ade in one more time, even tighter this time. Held him like he was trying to press the pieces of himself back together through the hug.
Because he could live with losing Sabine.
He could carry the guilt of Ariyah.
But this little boy—this soft-hearted, kind-eyed reflection of him—thiswas the one thing he had left to get right.
“I love you, Ade,” he whispered against his hair.
“I love you too, Daddy.”
SABINE
SEVEN MONTHS LATER…
Sabine stood at the head of the conference table, calm in her body and sharp in her mind. She was wearing her favorite blazer—the soft olive green one that hugged her waist just right—and a pair of gold studs that used to belong to her grandmother. Her laptop was already connected to the monitor. The prototype was queued. Her notecards, untouched. She honestly didn’t need them.
The room was full, but her focus stayed locked on the man seated at the center.
Harlan Creed.
CEO of Pillar Grove Solutions, one of the fastest-growing Black-owned consulting firms on the East Coast. Rumored to have turned down two corporate buyouts and a partnership with Bain because he didn’t want his name buried under someone else’s brand. She’d pitched them cold six weeks ago. The VP of ops had replied in 28 minutes. Said he was intrigued. Said if her software could really do what she claimed, they wanted first dibs.
She expected a delegate. A partner. Maybe a VP but Harlan Creed himself showed up. He waspowerful, but quiet with it. His watch was understated. His voice low and firm. And the wayhe looked at her? Like she wasn’t just some promising young creator but something herecognized.
Malik sat a few chairs down, behind the laptop, watching her with that look again—equal parts proud, protective, andwanting.
Sabine clicked to the opening slide:
ADER·RA: Predictive Insight Made Human.
“Thank you all for your time,” she began, voice steady. “I promise I won’t waste it.”
Harlan leaned back slightly in his chair, one hand resting casually against his jaw, the other tracing the rim of his water glass. “Something tells me you won’t.”
There was no smirk. Just fact.
Sabine didn’t blush but her throat tightened for half a second before she reset.
“Aderra was built to solve a very specific problem: small businesses—especially Black-owned businesses—don’t always have access to high-level data tools nor do they have the capital to pay full-time analysts. They get Excel. They get guesswork and they get left behind.” Click. “Here’s how we change that…they need tools that help them make decisions in real time—tools that don’t require a PhD to use. Aderra breaks complex data into real-world choices.”
Another slide. A scenario simulation. The audience leaned forward.
“If a nonprofit wants to forecast the risk of a 10% funding cut across their programs, Aderra doesn’t just show them the loss, it offers three optimized responses based on impact weight. It doesn’t replace the human...it helps the humanbe better.”
She clicked again. This time, a live demo. She ran a scenario on employee turnover for a startup with under 50 staff. The software returned not just predictions but recommendations.
One of the executives whispered, “Damn.”
Sabine’s voice flowed like it had been waiting for this moment. She walked them through the dashboard, the live scenario testing, the adaptive model that recalibrated in real time based on updated inputs. No filler. No fluff. Just facts and vision.
Harlan never looked away.
Sabine finished strong and…honest. She closed the laptop, looked every person in the room in the eye—everymanin the eye and then she said, with no tremble in her voice:
“I built this because I know what it feels like to be the only woman in the room. The only Black one. The one with the answers…but doubted into silence. Aderra was the thing I left behind when I gave everything to my family but I came back for her and she’s ready now.”