“No.”
“Any investors?”
“No.”
Diana looked at Carter.
He was no longer trying to remove Elijah from the room.
He was calculating how quickly someone else might reach him.
Diana knew the calculation because she was making it too.
Martin closed the binder.
“We need to complete verification before any competition determination.
But I’m comfortable saying this entry advances to the technical review.”
Grace did not understand what that meant.
She understood Elijah’s face.
“Daddy!” she shouted from behind the barrier.
He turned.
She lifted Biscuit over her head like a trophy.
Elijah laughed.
It was the first completely unguarded sound Diana had heard from him.
The technical review lasted most of the afternoon.
Engineers questioned Elijah about combustion geometry, control logic, material choices and failure safeguards.
He answered what he could without exposing every proprietary detail.
When a reviewer pushed for the exact structure of his adaptive algorithm, Elijah politely refused.
Carter looked irritated.
Diana did not.
“You said you haven’t filed a patent,” she said during a break.
“That’s right.”
“You should be careful what you disclose.”
Elijah studied her.
“That sounded almost like advice.”
Diana accepted the hit.
“It was.”
Grace sat nearby coloring on the back of an unused event sheet.
Biscuit lay across her lap.
Diana glanced at her, then back at Elijah.
“I owe you an apology.”
He waited.
She could have softened it.
She could have blamed the chaos of the event or Carter’s joke or the absurd contrast between the Dodge and the supercars outside.
Instead she said, “I saw your car and decided I knew your value.
Then I made sure other people heard me do it.
That was arrogant.”
Elijah’s expression remained calm.
“Yes.”
Charlotte, standing several feet away, suddenly became fascinated by her tablet.
Diana almost smiled.
“I’m not used to apologies being accepted that efficiently.”
“You apologized.
I heard you.”
“That isn’t forgiveness.”
“No.”
She nodded.
Fair enough.
Carter approached before either could say more.
“Diana, can I speak with you?”
“Here is fine.”
His eyes flicked toward Elijah.
“We should arrange a private technical evaluation.
