The office buzzed with an unfamiliar tension, the kind that made silence dangerous. Julia could feel it even before she stepped out of the elevator—whispers following her like static.
By the time she reached her cubicle, the email was already waiting. “URGENT: Internal Audit—Hughes-Related Accounts.” Her breath caught as she scrolled. Every line was a blade. Brandon’s name appeared five times. The projects he’d overseen, the budgets she’d approved.
Her coworkers didn’t look at her directly, but she caught the sidelong glances, the muttered half-sentences. “You think she knew?” “Protecting him, probably.”
She straightened her back and kept typing. She would not give them the satisfaction. But her hands trembled when she reached for her coffee, the surface trembling like it knew she was l
