It was too early. Not just for meetings, but for betrayal... for breath... for pretending I knew how to function like someone who didn’t just get a text from Ryan Glasgow at 5:57 a.m. saying, “You free for an early briefing tomorrow?” No punctuation, no greeting, just that. A sentence shaped like a bomb. I’d stared at it for thirteen full minutes, brushed my teeth with shampoo, screamed into the same pillow I kissed once after Jack left, then said yes. Of course I said yes. What else do you say to your maybe-ex boss who once pinned you against a glass wall and then disappeared into silence like a ghost with perfect cheekbones?
The office looked too bright. The kind of sterile that hurt your soul. Camille wasn’t in yet, the interns weren’t buzzing, even the gossip hadn’t logged in. It was
