The silence of Selena's office was oppressive. Papers lay scattered across her desk, half-signed documents, a financial report with red ink still circling names and numbers that now felt like scars she couldn't erase. Her laptop screen glowed, cursor blinking impatiently at the line she had tried to complete hours ago, but not a single word had made sense since she sat down.
She rubbed her eyes, pressing the heels of her palms against them until stars burst in her vision. Nothing worked. The harder she tried to focus, the further her mind wandered, spiraling back to Cain's office, to Jack's silence, to the sound of her own name thrown like a weapon into the middle of a conversation she was never supposed to hear.
Her name, linked to corruption. To theft. To Peter.
She had thought she was numb after that. But numbness didn't last. It cracked, gave way to something far worse: a slow, suffocating ache that hollowed her out from the inside.
