EVELYN HAYES.
Founder and Executive Chair.
I held it for a moment before clipping it to my jacket.
A badge is only plastic, ink, and a pin.
It cannot create authority, loyalty, or worth.
But that night, it reminded me how easily people confuse possession with ownership.
Sloane had worn my name.
Grant had occupied my office.
He had used my absence, my marriage, and my grief as evidence that I no longer belonged in the life I built.
He was wrong.
I had never disappeared.
I had simply become quiet enough to hear the truth.
