Games Played in Silence
The air inside Bell Enterprise felt colder than usual—sharper somehow, as if the walls had absorbed every whisper, every betrayal, and now echoed them back through the silence.
Calla arrived ten minutes early, though it wasn’t out of enthusiasm. It was self-preservation. Be early. Look calm. Don’t give anyone a reason to point fingers.
The moment she stepped onto the executive floor, her senses sharpened.
Something was off.
The usual hum of morning chatter had thinned to whispers, and as she passed, a few eyes flicked toward her and quickly away. Like she’d walked into a room just after the punchline of a cruel joke.
She reached her desk and froze.
A single sticky note sat neatly on her keyboard, its lemon-yellow brightness mocking the knot in her stomach.
