Nia suggested a small café near the restaurant, away from the private dining suites and the constant movement of executives.
Grace arrived wearing a simple navy jacket and carrying a tablet.
She looked tired.
Nia welcomed her.
For a few minutes, they discussed the dinner.
Grace admitted she'd been uncomfortable when Victor challenged Nia.
"I should have spoken up sooner."
Nia shook her head.
"You weren't the person who said it."
"I know."
Grace looked toward her cup.
"But I was sitting there."
For a moment, Nia didn't answer.
Then said gently, "You can decide what to do differently next time."
Grace nodded.
She appreciated the answer.
Then she opened her tablet.
"I wanted to talk to you about the operational side of the acquisition."
Nia listened.
Grace described the projected staff reductions and the risks of merging monitoring operations too quickly.
Some improvements were sensible.
Duplicated administrative functions could be consolidated.
Several facilities used incompatible software that needed modernization.
But other proposed cuts would remove experienced technicians from areas where local knowledge mattered.
One model assumed alarms could be routed to a centralized support center without significantly increasing response times.
Grace wasn't convinced.
She had asked for a detailed field assessment.
The response was delayed.
Then she learned the financial projections had already incorporated the savings.
Nia frowned.
"Did the model account for the cost of delayed response when a refrigeration unit fails?"
Grace shook her head.
"Not adequately."
For several seconds, Nia stared toward the window.
She remembered Lorraine's old question.
Who gets hurt when this system stops working?
Then she looked back at Grace.
"Will you provide that concern through the board's review?"
Grace nodded.
"Yes."
Her expression was serious.
"I should've done it earlier."
The two women talked for nearly two hours.
They discussed the difference between opposing a transaction and demanding a responsible one.
Nia understood why investors wanted liquidity.
Grace understood why the company needed capital.
Neither believed Jade Passage could survive indefinitely by treating every old practice as sacred.
But they also knew that aggressive cost savings could become expensive failures if the underlying service degraded.
They agreed that any revised proposal should explain how employee protections, monitoring standards, customer obligations, and core technology rights would be maintained.
When the meeting ended, Grace stood.
For a moment, she looked toward Nia.
"I owe your mother a lot."
Nia smiled sadly.
"So do I."
Grace continued.
"She once told me a graph can look beautiful while hiding a disaster."
Nia laughed.
"That sounds exactly like her."
Grace smiled.
Then became serious.
"She was right."
For several seconds, the women stood quietly.
Then Grace extended her hand.