It started with silence. The kind that held weight. The kind that curled around your ribs and squeezed slowly.
Rhea stood near the far side of Damian’s office, the city lights casting their cold glow through the tall glass windows. She was supposed to be reading through the final report, one last edit before the press release tomorrow. But her eyes weren’t on the papers in her hands. They were on the man standing across from her, uncharacteristically quiet.
Damian was watching her. Not passively. Not politely. It was that same stare again, the one that had been growing bolder lately. The kind of stare that wasn’t safe.
“You’re not reading,” he said finally, stepping closer.
Rhea looked down at the file in her hand. “I was.”
“No,” he said. “You were staring out the window, pretending t
