Clara arrived at Wolfe Enterprises before seven, clutching her coffee like a shield. The building gleamed with its usual intimidating perfection, but today, its sharp edges felt hostile. Every shadow seemed to hold secrets. Every corridor, a threat.
Her desk outside Nicholas’s office was already buried in messages, documents, and a schedule so tightly packed it made her stomach twist. She set her jaw, forcing herself to focus.
But focus was impossible. Veronica’s words clung to her like cobwebs. The pattern is holding. She doesn’t even realize it yet. The sentence slithered through her mind like smoke, impossible to catch, impossible to shake.
A door opened behind her. Nicholas stepped out of his office, immaculate as always in a dark suit, his presence commanding the hallway without ef
