Tonia's POV
Some time later, I strode through the towering glass entrance of the corporate building, my charcoal blazer crisp against my frame and stilettos clicking against marble floors with calculated precision.
My assistant trailed behind me, clutching my leather portfolio and documents like a shield between herself and the tension that followed in my wake.
The whispered conversations died the moment I appeared. Employees scattered like startled deer, creating invisible barriers as if my very presence carried some lethal contagion.
I kept my expression stone-cold, the mask I had perfected when pretending the world around me ceased to exist. The elevator doors slid shut, sealing me in temporary silence.
The eleventh floor greeted me with the same choreographed fear. Workers froze mid-task, rising from their desks in synchronized terror, heads bowed in reluctant reverence as I carved a path through their ranks.
