“They froze the partnership,” he said, staring at the screen of his laptop.

“I saw the email,” I replied.

He stood up, his chair scraping loudly against the floor.

“You saw it? Is that all you have to say?”

“What do you want me to say, Ethan?”

“This is my career, Clara. My entire life’s work. Gone because of a scene in the lobby.”

“You chose to have an affair with an intern in your own office building,” I said, looking him in the eye. “The scene was a consequence of your choices.”

“Lila was a mistake,” he muttered, pacing near the counter. “A stupid, meaningless mistake. But this? The firm is launching a full HR inquiry. They’re interviewing people.”

“They have to,” I said. “It happened in public. The clients saw it.”

He stopped pacing and looked at me, his face pale.

“Arthur is furious. He said he can’t protect me from this. The compliance committee is involved.”

“Arthur has a business to run,” I said.