Otthen sat alone in his office, surrounded by the trappings of his wealth and power, but feeling an emptiness that none of it could fill.
Days had passed since Cambrik left, and with each passing hour, he’d told himself it was only a matter of time. He had cancelled her cards, shut off every financial tie she had to him. He knew her situation—no money, no job, nowhere else to go. She would come back. She had to.
But the days dragged on, and she still hadn’t appeared.
The thought gnawed at him, eating away at his certainty. He couldn’t focus, couldn’t concentrate on anything else. Cambrik’s absence hung over him, filling every quiet corner of his life, until the idea that she might be gone for good turned into an unbearable weight pressing down on him.
Unable to take it any longer, Ott
