Claire and Riley came next. Their startup was splashed across Forbes, TechCrunch, and podcasts with names like FoundHer. Claire coded. Riley pitched. Their photos were sharp-edged: blazers, neon signs, skyline selfies. One pinned post read: “Built from scratch. Nobody handed us anything.” Underneath, a thousand likes and two sharp comments from Lucy.
They looked invincible. Like girls who had taught themselves to be steel. Justin watched a clip of Riley onstage, saying, “Our company started with scarcity.” Claire didn’t speak much, but her gaze in every picture was cool and deliberate. He circled Claire’s name with a question mark. Riley, he left blank.