. 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