“For now, it means that we need to make sure we show the consultants why our programs are important.” She scowled at whatever popped into her head and looked to the conference room door, expectantly. “The twins are not happy about this and they will fight like hell to keep everything going. Davidson’s, this firm they’ve brought in, has a good reputation and it’s known for making transitions that don’t steamroll the company’s values. Still, they’re here to do a job.” She lifted her hands like that could placate the panic that was probably written all over my face.

I was too freaked out to answer so I took a moment to mull over the information Gail had just thrown at me. The Twins were Mitzy and Muffy Sturm, the granddaughters of the founder of the company and two of the three majority owners. They had been the ones who’d, after watching the news and what was happening to children at the border, had come to Gail and expressed their desire to fund a program for immigrant and refugee children. Gail had come up with a trauma-informed after-school program for middle and high school kids and a trauma-specialized counseling center for families. I’d been hired to develop and run the after-school program.

Gail cleared her throat and I braced for whatever she was going to say. “But Mitzy and Muffy are not the only ones who get a say.” I knew there was another sibling, but he was sort of a mystery to me. “Their younger brother, Duke, is the one behind the push to go public, and he does not seem to have any use for the foundation, much less new initiatives costing the company millions. He’s the one who pushed for hiring the consulting firm.”

Bile rose up my throat when I thought of how messy I’d been with Rocco. Fuck.

“We’ve barely started the semester. Where does this leave us?”

I’d arrived in Dallas in late spring in order to set up the program for the start of the school year. It had taken an enormous amount of work to get everything ready, but we’d managed. Gail had been a huge driver in that effort. She was not one to cower in front of a challenge and at my question, the woman who I’d grown to admire and respect in the six months we’d been working together was suddenly in front of me.

“We show them we’re too important to cut.”

I nodded woodenly, definitely not feeling as fired up as Gail. It didn’t help that she gulped for whatever she was saying next. Whatever was coming was some bullshit, but before she had a chance to say it there was knock on the conference room door. Gail’s back went up and my stomach dropped somewhere around my Mary Janes. This would not be good.