Liam ran his fingers under his collar, loosening the top button. He didn’t look up.

“I was closing a multi-billion-dollar deal, Alex,” he said, voice level. “My job there wasn’t to make anyone happy. It was to get the contract signed.”

“I wanted you to close it without nearly blowing the whole thing up,” Alex replied evenly, keeping his tone controlled. “Today those investors only signed because the terms were too good to refuse—not because of you. And that’s not how it usually goes.”

He paused