The next two days passed with the kind of quiet that made everything feel louder.
Not real quiet.
Not peace.
Just the strained, careful silence that settled between people when too much had already been understood and neither side wanted to handle it carelessly.
Ronda had asked for time.
Karl had given it.
And somehow, that made thinking harder.
If he had pushed, she could have defended herself more easily.
If he had acted offended, she could have turned cold in return.
If he had withdrawn completely, perhaps she could have folded everything inward and forced herself to move on.
But he did none of that.
He simply gave her space.
And in that space, every truth he had spoken began to deepen instead of fading.
He cares.
He has influence in the firm.
He did not tell her soon eno
