Axle's POV
Work was supposed to be my safe place, the one place where I could shut everything out and just focus. Today, I needed it more than ever.
I arrived at the building a little after one-thirty. Every employee I passed greeted me, their "Good afternoon, sir" ringing hollow in my ears. I nodded mechanically, not really seeing their faces, not really hearing their words.
All I could see and feel was Narda.
I rode up in my private elevator, staring at my own reflection in the brushed steel walls. I looked fine, crisp navy suit, lilac tie perfectly knotted, but my eyes were wrong. Too dark. Too tired. Too… haunted.
When the elevator doors opened, my secretary was already waiting outside my office. "Sir," he said briskly, keeping pace as I walked. "The two o'clock meetin
