The rain arrives with the insistence of an unwelcome truth, drumming against my office windows in patterns that mirror the restless rhythm of my pulse. The city blurs beyond the glass, streetlights becoming abstract smears of gold and white that transform the familiar landscape into something foreign, uncertain. I remain seated at my desk long after Lucas's footsteps fade from the hallway, his absence somehow more palpable than his presence had been. The leather portfolio lies before me like an unexplored territory, its contents promising solutions I'm not certain I'm prepared to accept.
My fingers hover over the brass clasps, hesitating at the threshold of commitment. The portfolio's surface carries Lucas's scent—that complex blend of cedar and rain with something wilder beneath that mak
