Sophia’s pace increased with intent… “When I get down to the basement,” she said, her voice carrying that lethal warmth that made even senior partners pause, “I can run a pattern analysis on the witness testimony. Cross-reference it against every known derivative work.” Her fingers drummed against her tab, each tap a confession her professional mask hadn’t agreed to make. “See if an older summarizer prompt can fine tune this a bit.”

Juniper nodded sharply, but her eyes were on Daniel, who was now staring at his device with an intensity that made her pulse stutter. “Daniel, I need you-”

“I know,” he said quickly, too quickly, shoving the device back in his pocket. “I’ll handle the evidentiary foundation for the pattern and practice claims. Work backwards from the Delaney documents to establish timeline consistency.”

Something in his voice made Juniper’s chest tighten, a familiar flicker of concern that she immediately tried to squash beneath the weight of their deadline. Not now, she told herself.