A pause.
Then applause.
“Where’d this come from?” Harlan’s question silencing the room.
Sabine tilted her chin up slightly. “I’ve been building it for a while. I let life pull me away from it but I came back and this time, I’m not letting it go.”
His eyes flicked across her—slow, not disrespectful, but definitely not neutral. “Good. You shouldn’t.”
Malik gave her a slick side-eye. Hefeltit too.
Harlan glanced down at his notes, then back at her. “You said this is functional but still in prototype stage?”
“Correct.”
“And you’re the sole owner?”
“Founder. Architect. Sole owner.”
“Impressive,” he responded without a smile.
Sabine gave a tight nod. “I’m not looking for hand-holding. I’m looking for partnership. Strategic rollout. Maybe license opportunities.”
Harlan stood as the room began to shift—laptops closed, voices rising into post-meeting chatter and everyone followed. He crossed the space toward her with an ease. Power.
“I want to set up a follow-up,” he said. “Not a ‘let’s touch base’ meeting. An actual follow-up. We can talk numbers, equity, rollout timelines.”
Sabine extended her hand.
Harlan looked down, then clasped it—warm, firm, respectful. Just a beat longer than necessary though.
“Well done, Ms. Knight,” he said low enough that only she could hear. “This is the kind of work that leaves room for more than just one conversation.”
Sabine met his eyes—steady, composed, unshaken.
“Then I suppose we’ll talk again.”
He allowed the barest hint of a smile. Not flirtatious. Just…interested.
“I look forward to it.”
And then he moved on.
Not a single word out of place.
The conference room emptied slowly. People moved like they didn’t want to leave too quickly, as if staying a little longer might make them look more connected, more important.
Sabine moved with intention—calm and collected but her breath still hadn’t fully returned to normal. Not because of the pitch. That had gone exactly how she’d envisioned.
It washim.
Harlan Creed.
She caught sight of him just outside the glass wall, standing with her department head in hushed conversation. His posture relaxed, his voice low. His body angled toward her boss. But his eyes?
Locked on her.
He wasn’t smiling. Wasn’t smirking. Just watching. Like she was a question he hadn’t fully formed yet but already wanted the answer to.