Eva did not leave the building immediately.
The elevator doors slid open onto the ground floor with their usual soft chime, but she stayed where she was, standing still as if the polished marble beneath her feet had rooted her in place. The lobby looked the same as it had an hour ago—orderly, pristine, emotionally indifferent—but Eva felt different inside it now.
Something had shifted.
She could feel it in the way her shoulders refused to fully relax, in the faint pressure behind her eyes, in the subtle awareness that she was no longer simply moving through spaces. She was being measured in them.
The receptionist looked up again as Eva stepped forward.
This time, the woman did not falter.
She was dressed in the same fitted navy blazer and crisp white blouse, the collar sitting neatly
