Dawn arrives with Calloway's deadline expired and no further messages sent.
I take that as a small victory, though Talia warns against reading too much into silence. We regroup at her apartment by mid-morning, everyone present now, bruised in various ways but intact. Mira makes coffee for the group, hands steadier than they were the night before. Renn manages actual jokes again, weak ones, but genuine. Corin sits quietly near the window, still processing everything the previous night cost him.
"She's gone quiet," Talia says, reviewing the council session's aftermath on her laptop. "No new threats, no further intimidation attempts. That's either a good sign or a very bad one."
"Meaning?" Mira asks.
"Meaning she's either backing off because the rival firms' support makes further aggressi
