The house was too quiet.
The kind of silence that made every page turn sound deliberate.
Legal briefs lay spread across the dining table in precise stacks. Amendments. Audit timelines. Preliminary board responses.
Marcus stood at the head of the table, jacket discarded, sleeves rolled once. Evelyn sat opposite him, one ankle crossed over the other, reading a highlighted paragraph for the second time without absorbing it.
“The independent review panel will convene by Monday,” he said evenly. “Julian’s counsel is pushing for interim suspension pending findings.”
“Of you,” she said without looking up.
“Yes.”
The word settled between them without weight. That was what unsettled her.
Her knees brushed the underside of the table. His did too.
Neither adjusted.
“The board’s nervous,” sh
