The door clicked shut behind her. Elna's pulse still hadn't steadied from the last few minutes in Neby's private annex. The faint heat of his breath still clung to her skin, and the ghost of his touch burned into her arms. She straightened, forcing her voice into something neutral.
"I'll see you at the next board," she said.He smiled — slow, unreadable. "You will."
The weight of that promise followed her all the way out of the building.
By the time she stepped outside, the air felt different — lighter in temperature, heavier in thought. James was waiting by the car, Aresy in the driver's seat.
"You're late," James said gently, though his eyes searched hers like he was trying to read something she wasn't ready to give.
"Board approved the suggestions," she said quickly, sliding into the backseat. "Next one's scheduled for the end of the month." Her tone was steady, practiced. The details were true — but not the whole truth.
___
The car hummed along the road, streetlights slicing shadows across the windows. Elna shifted the report in her lap, the crisp paper brushing her fingertips. It felt colder than it should — like the polished surface of Neby's desk. For a fleeting second, she swore she caught the faint trace of his cologne, the one that had hung in the annex's air, heavy and intoxicating.
Aresy's head tilted just enough to catch her expression. "You didn't tell us you'd be going to the annex," she said, her voice calm but charged with subtext. "Why?"
Elna didn't blink. "Because it wasn't important."
James, in the passenger seat, turned halfway toward her. "Not important? You've been off since you stepped out of there. Something happened."
"Nothing happened." The words came out sharper than she intended, so she softened her tone. "It was just a meeting. A private one. For the board's next phase."
James studied her for a moment longer than was comfortable. She could feel it—the way he was trying to connect dots she hadn't given him. But his silence told her he found no pattern. Good.
Aresy wasn't as quick to drop it. "You're certain that's all?"
Elna's lips curved in something that might have been a smile if you didn't look too closely. "Certain."
The rest of the ride passed without questions, though she could feel their unspoken ones pressing in from both sides.
Her breath hitched. She forced her gaze toward the passing city lights, away from James's watchful glances in the mirror and Aresy's unblinking presence at the wheel.
Her mind was still in that annex.
Still hearing Neby's voice.
Still feeling the inch of space that had almost disappeared between them.
But she'd let neither of them see it.
____
It had started earlier that day.
The board's notice had come mid-morning, curt and efficient: "Phase-two adjustments. Attendance is required for review. Department leads: Aresy, James, Elna."
There was no elaboration. There rarely was. But the address at the bottom wasn't the usual corporate high-rise—it was one of the older district entries, a place James said he'd only heard mentioned in passing.
They'd gone together, the three of them, a short walk from the main hub to the quieter sector of the city, where the architecture turned heavier and the glass-and-chrome sparkle of the business district dulled into steel and shadow.
Inside, it had been a split meeting. James and Aresy had been ushered into one room for a financial breakdown. Elna was told her briefing was elsewhere—another wing.
She hadn't argued.
And when she returned—thirty-eight minutes later—her composure was intact, but something in her pacing had shifted.
Now, hours later, that subtle difference sat in the car with them, invisible yet impossible to ignore.
______
The car eased to a stop outside Elna's complex. She got out first, offering a polite goodnight before disappearing into the building's shadowed entrance.
For a moment, James and Aresy stayed in the car.
"She's hiding something," James said finally, his voice low.
Aresy kept her eyes on the rearview mirror, watching the spot where Elna had vanished. "I know."
"Any idea what?"
A pause. "Something she doesn't want us involved in."
James exhaled, leaning back in his seat. "And that's supposed to make me less concerned?"
"No," Aresy said, starting the engine again. "It should make you more."
They drove off, neither of them speaking, but the air between them carried the same weight as when Elna had been there.
Something had shifted.And none of them were ready to admit how much.