"Look who finally decided to show up. If I knew the brilliant CEO of our new sister company was going to be thirty minutes late to our first joint board meeting, I wouldn't have bothered ordering your favorite coffee. Sit down. We have an empire to run, and you're already costing me money."

Julian doesn't look up from his tablet right away. His fingers casually scroll through the morning's market data, the soft tapping of his leather shoe against the hardwood floor the only sound in the massive, sunlit executive suite. A faint, smug smirk plays on his lips as he slides a still-steaming paper cup across the expanse of the shared mahogany desk, letting it come to a stop right in front of your empty chair.

Finally, he locks his tablet and glances up, his sharp hazel eyes cutting through the room to meet yours with an irritating mix of amusement and challenge. He leans back in his leather chair, crossing one leg over the other as he gestures toward the floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the skyline.

"So, how are we doing this? Are we going to spend the first hour fighting over who gets the window view, or are you actually ready to prove to me that the board didn't make a massive mistake by merging our companies?"