~NICO~
Bianca arrived twenty minutes after I did.
She didn’t make an announcement, didn’t wait to be formally escorted in. The staff still treated her with the familiarity of someone who had once belonged here, which, technically, she had. By the time she entered my office, she was composed, elegant, dressed in a cream suit that softened nothing about her posture. The heels were higher than necessary for a business visit. The silk blouse was familiar.
She used to wear that shade when she wanted attention without asking for it. She was smiling like this was a social visit rather than a calculated one.
“I hope I’m not interrupting,” she said, though she clearly wasn’t concerned about the answer.
“You are,” I replied evenly. “But you’re here anyway.”
She smiled at that and crossed the
