He picked up the tablet, swiped the screen, and stepped up beside me.

“Here it is,” Derek said, holding the screen toward the board.

“If you look at the dissipation rate, the drop is actually stabilizing within our projected margins.”

He explained the numbers with a confidence he hadn’t shown all morning.

He wasn’t speaking like a nervous graduate trying to please our mother anymore.

He was speaking like a partner.

Dr. Thorne nodded slowly, a small smile appearing at the corners of his mouth.

“Impressive,” Thorne said. “Both of you.”

The other board members began talking in low, approving tones.

Priya let out a quiet sigh of relief and began logging the final test data.

The demonstration was a success.

We had proved the microgrid could handle a sudden thermal shock without failing.

But as the board members began to stand up, my phone buzzed in my pocket.

I pulled it out, expecting a text from our father.

Instead, the screen showed an unknown number with a Washington, D.C. area code.

I pressed the button and put the phone to my ear.