His what? Lucy tried to cover her delight at being Ryan Thompson’s favorite by reaching for her glass. “I mean, sure, historically, doing so well in the beta test increases our chances, but Demo Day has at least four judges and—”

“And yet I’m the one funding the program. Don’t tell me you’re surprised. Though you’re way too pretty to be in tech, you are. You know how this game is played.”

Lucy sat back in her seat, waiting for the ripple of excitement at Ryan basically telling her she was going to win ValleyStart to roll into something greater because this is what she wanted, what she needed, for Stanford, her mom, Delia and Maddie—for herself. Winning ValleyStart. She wanted it. But when she sipped her drink, the bubbles slid uneasily down her throat.

Ryan asked for more details about the beta test, and Lucy obliged, transitioning into the business persona she’d seen in her mom her entire life. She extracted her notebook from her bag and flipped through, detailing her strategy and how it had played out, emphasizing all she’d done to ensure success. Ryan nodded intently as she spoke, his fingertips touching and forming a triangle in front of his mouth.

Aside from a few hmms and a couple of good thinkings, though, he didn’t say much.

Was she boring him?

The server appeared with their pre-appetizer, “the amuse-bouche”—a shot glass of soup she described as essence of tom yum goong.

Ryan swirled the glass like it was wine. “Hmm . . . Maybe we should’ve invited your teammates. The one could have translated for us.”

Lucy’s brow creased, and then it hit her. “Maddie? She’s Chinese American, not Thai.”

Ryan shrugged indifference and downed his soup in one long gulp, and bile rocketed up Lucy’s throat.

She tried a polite sip of the soup, but the burn persisted.

“Speaking of, I think you should drop them—your teammates,” Ryan said, flatly, like he was talking about changing his shirt.

Drop Maddie and Delia?

Her throat tightened, and she twisted the napkin in her lap, groping for the right words, the right way to respond to Ryan Thompson, Pulse founder, ValleyStart funder, Silicon Valley icon, who wanted to take her product to market.

She forced a smile. “Too bad ValleyStart’s a team program, right?” She gave a soft laugh. “We’ll be fine, though—great—you’ll see when—”

He raised his hand in the air, turning away from Lucy to signal the server, then watched as the woman poured him a refill of his champagne even though the bottle was right beside him. Eyeing Lucy’s barely touched glass, he said, “And let’s get this little lady something more to her liking. Lucy, what’s your poison?”

“No, I’m fine. It’s fine.” She took a sip. “Great.”

Ryan wrapped his hand around the server’s forearm. “Bring her the Montrachet.”