The Clock Strikes
591 Words
Elena barely slept. Every time she closed her eyes, she saw Sophie sliding that photo across the shelf, the blurred shapes under the umbrella, Caroline’s trust breaking like glass in her imagination.
At 7:50 a.m., she was already in the office. The air smelled of stale coffee and copier toner. She sat at her desk, staring at her inbox as if it might rewrite itself. The calendar still held the “Quick Sync” for 8:30. Caroline’s office. Sophie’s invitation.
Her phone buzzed.
Time’s almost up.
No sender. No signature. Just the second hand moving faster.
She typed back, What do you want from me?
Three dots blinked. Vanished. Blinked again.
Truth in the right ears. Or I’ll deliver it myself.
Her stomach twisted. She shoved the phone in her bag just as Adrian appeared, folder in hand, his expression composed but his eyes scanning her face.
“You didn’t sleep,” he murmured.
“Neither did you.”
“Caroline’s office, 8:30.”
She nodded, throat tight. “Sophie declined your name.”
“I expected that.” He tapped the folder against his palm once, twice, the rhythm grounding. “Then we don’t wait for Sophie’s timing. We take Caroline first.”
Fear prickled hot under her skin. “Now?”
“Now.”
At 8:12, Caroline looked up from her desk as Adrian and Elena stepped into her office together. She blinked once, surprised, then gestured them in.
“This early?” she said lightly. “What’s broken?”
Elena’s throat closed. The words lodged behind her ribs. But Adrian spoke, voice steady.
“Caroline, there’s something you need to hear from us, not from anyone else.”
Caroline set her pen down. Her gaze sharpened, the warmth in it unchanging but alert now. “Go on.”
Elena forced herself to breathe. Her palms were damp. She looked at Caroline and thought of every compliment, every benediction, every ounce of faith. Then she said, “It’s about me. And Adrian.”
Silence. The kind that made the hum of the air conditioner sound deafening. Caroline’s brows drew in the smallest fraction. “Explain.”
Elena swallowed. “We—” She couldn’t finish. Adrian’s hand brushed hers, hidden against her knee, not holding but anchoring. She tried again. “We crossed a line. Personally. Outside of work. It wasn’t planned. But it happened.”
Caroline leaned back slowly, eyes moving between them. Not anger yet. Not relief. Something sharper. “And Sophie knows.”
It wasn’t a question.
Elena’s breath caught. “She has a photo.”
Caroline exhaled once, through her nose, the way she did when people dodged her rules in negotiations. “Of course she does.”
The door knocked. All three turned.
Sophie stepped inside, tablet in hand, expression smooth. “Morning, Caroline. Ready for our quick sync?”
Her eyes flicked briefly to Elena, then to Adrian, then to Caroline—just long enough to say she already knew she’d walked into a room mid-conversation.
The air grew heavy, fragile. Elena’s pulse beat in her ears.
Caroline folded her hands on the desk. “Actually, Sophie,” she said calmly, “I think this conversation requires all of us.”
Sophie froze a fraction too long before smiling. “Of course.”
She stepped closer, slid into a chair, and tapped her tablet awake. Her reflection shivered across the black glass. Adrian’s hand pressed once against Elena’s knee, unseen, steady.
Elena braced herself.
The truth was no longer waiting. It was here.
- Writer
