. He slumped back in his chair, throat dry, eyes riveted on the email chain fr

office. He knew what this meant. The agreement had been wobbly for weeks, but he'd assured Sienna he would secur

g. His pho

an: My of

He'd seen that look on her face before – the calm before the storm. He clamped his eyes tight, battling the surge

ders, and took the unhurried trek down the ha

*

en against her lower lip. Her dark hair was tied back, showing

e the

click of it shutting

gaze. They were clear, bright, and ha

h this loss costs us

eared his

and opened it. Inside were projections, numbers,

u could handle it. I trusted you, despite the recommendations of my enti

enn

ter. Do you understand what

ading up his neck. "I

at? You have nothing left to offer but excuses. Or do you have a h

ab. Her remarks touc

cts. I can phone th

ghtly, the delicate line of her collarbone coming through. He despised

Bring them back to the table; find new partners – wh

t was nearly impossible. But her eyes warned h

stiffly. "

ng through him like a knife. "You don

hair, dismissing him wit

e in his body vibrating. He needed to think. He needed a p

*

tacts. His phone battery was dwindling, his coffee was cold, and his head hurt. The people who used to

ad kept for rent and to keep his mother from losing her home. He peered at the figures. Scratc

maybe

trembling as the zeroes filled the sc

. The scorn. The cold triumph. The remin

essed

*

ty hallways hummed with stillness, only the night crew moving like ghosts in the darkness. His tie hung loose ove

cuments, seeking any scrap he could twist i

or down the corridor. H

like his own. The small smile that resembled one he hadn't seen in years, excep

n the corridor and keyed in the access code for Sienna's office, on

open with a

e. Her desk lamp flickered, creating shadows over the elegant fur

he rifled through them, searching for anything – birth certificat

on a file labelled

throat. Slowly, he slid i

icate. The name is Samuel De

: Sien

. The same boy, bright-eyed, with

pe of cash, the heartless way he'd turned away from her when she need

ilk behind him

something,

and poisonous, p

ssed across her chest, hair flowing around her shoulders.

he file still open i

e a gunshot in the hush. She grabbed the file f

just left it alon

s voice cracked. "Tell

th?" She went closer, so close he could smell the faint trace o

ftly, "to erase him. So I did. The in

ymond staggered back, shaking

t. Now go out of my office. And if you ever come near my data again, I

dn't reach. He felt the reality underneath, pressing at the

e file back into the drawer, shut it, and turned her back on hi

ooming down the corridor like the heartbeat o