Anika Meyer was not the type to pry, gossip, or whisper behind closed doors. She didn't need to. Her power was in what she noticed — and more importantly, what she remembered.
And lately, she'd been remembering a lot about Liam Vos.
How he used to glide through meetings with an open laptop and no notes, but still nailed every summary. How he would drop hints about "offers" and "connections" without ever naming companies. How he was always just close enough to success, without fully arriving at it.
At first, it had amused her.
Now... it irritated her.
She watched as Liam arrived Tuesday morning — fifteen minutes later than his usual early-bird slot. He looked tired. Or maybe bored. Or both.
He sat down, put on his headphones, and stared at his screen without typing for nearly ten minutes.
Then, she saw it again.
He opened a blank spreadsheet, added a few fake bullet points, and minimized it.
After that, he clicked into the PTL dashboard.
Typed two entries.
Stopped again.
Anika sipped her coffee and jotted something in the corner of her pad:
"Still here. Still no exit."
At lunch, they ended up at the same table again. Neither planned it.
Liam was scrolling his phone. Anika picked at a couscous bowl.
"I heard Emilia's fast-tracking the PTL replacement," she said casually.
Liam didn't look up. "Yeah, something like that."
"You must be relieved."
"Relieved?"
"I mean... you're leaving, right? That's what you've been saying for weeks."
He set the phone down, his smile automatic. "Still in limbo. Family takes its time."
She held his gaze. "Right. The import business."
He stiffened just slightly.
"You know," she added, her tone cool, "I used to work in logistics. The timelines you've described... they don't really make sense."
Liam blinked.
"I'm sure it's different for us," he said, grabbing his fork. "We're not a big operation. More boutique. Agricultural. Seasonal complexities, and—"
"You don't have to keep spinning, Liam."
Her voice cut the air like a paper slice — not angry, just real.
Liam froze.
She stood.
"You think everyone's buying it. But most people stopped watching. I didn't."
Then she walked away, her plate half-full.
That evening, Liam opened his laptop at home and stared at the fake "Vos & Kin" folder.
He'd renamed three fake PDF reports just to feel productive.
Now he couldn't bring himself to open a single one.
Instead, he opened a blank document and typed the words:
"I'm not leaving."
Then deleted it.
He went to bed, but sleep didn't come easy.
Because now it wasn't just about being caught.
It was about being seen.
And Anika had seen him.