The office was darker than she expected.
Only the moon spilled light across the floor, casting faint shadows over rows of bookshelves and the polished desk at the far end.
Emerie slipped inside, her heels silent over the stone.
She moved quickly—past the model blueprints, past the antique globe—straight to the drawer she'd seen Antony open during finance meetings.
She entered the passcode—his mother's birthday.
It clicked open.
Inside: encrypted USB drives, security reports, and a slim black laptop.
She plugged in her flash drive.
The screen lit up.
*Downloading archive: Macadam_Internal-Alpha001.zip…*
Her breath caught with every second.
42%…
61%…
74%…
Then—
“Emerie?"
She froze.
Antony stood in the doorway, coat half-off, brow furrowed.
She spun around, hiding the flash
