Jayden swallowed.
Elliot noticed every look, every whisper, but he didn't react. He walked with the steady confidence of someone who knew the entire building stood on money he could pull from beneath it if he chose.
The receptionist glanced up, ready to dismiss them, until she saw Elliot. "Mr. Mercer?" she stammered, nearly standing. "We didn't know you were coming today."
"You weren't supposed to," Elliot said, calm, controlled, dangerous.
"I... I can call the director."
"You will," Elliot replied. "Now."
The woman scrambled for the phone. Jayden tried not to stare, but he couldn't help it. The last time he'd stood in this lobby, he'd felt like a stain on the floor; today, he wasn't sure who he was, only that he wasn't the same boy who'd walked out crying.
Moments later, the director hurried down the stairs—a man in a tailored suit with silver cufflinks and a smile too tight at the corners. "Mr. Mercer," he said breathlessly. "What an unexpected honor. If we had known—"
"You didn't," Elliot said. "But now that I'm here, we need a room."
The director blinked. "A room?"
Elliot gestured to Jayden. "He has something to show you."
The director's gaze shifted to Jayden, and in an instant, the same look from the audition room flashed across his face: doubt, tinted with something uglier.
Jayden felt his stomach clench.
"I'm not sure we have space available without an appointment."
"You do now," Elliot replied, stepping forward just enough for the director to step back. "You rejected this young man without hearing him. Today, you will listen."
Parents nearby stopped pretending not to watch.