~ Gideon ~
The amber liquid in my glass caught the light from the city below. Sixty-four floors up, the world looked like a simulation—a grid of glowing lines and silent movements. I sat in my leather chair, the weight of the silence in my office finally becoming heavy. For years, I had craved this stillness. Now, it felt like a vacuum, sucking the air out of my lungs.
I reached for the file on my desk. It wasn’t a merger proposal or a quarterly report. It was the original contract. Twelve pages. Twelve pages of cold, clinical language that had defined the last year of my life. My fingers traced the edge of the heavy cream paper. I remembered the day she signed it. I remembered her small, steady hand and the way she hadn't looked at me.
"A clean transaction," I whispered to the empty ro
