[Ethan's POV]
Flashback - Six Months Ago
The server room beneath Apex Tower was usually freezing, kept at a strict sixty degrees to prevent the massive Vanguard mainframes from overheating. But inside Nia's private, soundproofed office at the back of the facility, the air was warm and heavy.
I was lying on my back on the small, makeshift cot Nia kept in the corner for the nights she worked late. My tactical shirt was discarded on the floor.
Nia was curled against my side, her dark hair spilling across my chest, her signature wire-rimmed glasses resting on the nightstand next to an empty can of Red Bull. She was tracing lazy, absentminded circles on my collarbone with her index finger.
I tilted her chin up and kissed her. It was slow, quiet, and deeply intimate—a stark contrast to the chaotic, high-stakes corporate war we were fighting every day above ground.
