Private Room

Marcus laughed, delighted. "I see why Ethan likes you." Ethan sat before the sentence could become a trap. "You don't know what I like." "I know you like winning from behind." Marcus poured water, not wine. "That kind of man either becomes disciplined or dead." Priya sat beside Ethan, not across. A choice. Marcus noticed. Of course he noticed. Dinner began as theater. Courses arrived like evidence exhibits. Marcus asked Priya about compute demand, GPU supply chains, sovereign AI policy, energy constraints, data center permitting. He asked Ethan nothing for twenty minutes. That was the first move: make the outsider feel lucky to listen. Ethan listened anyway.