Emily froze for only a second, but it was long enough for the air to thicken around them.
Mr. Johnson stood by the door, his tall frame filling the space, eyes darting between them. The look on his face was not anger yet, not suspicion but something far sharper.
“Emily?” he repeated, quieter now.
She stepped forward quickly, her tone calm but too quick to sound natural. “I was just showing Adam the new layout for next quarter’s presentation. We needed privacy to review the numbers.”
Mr. Johnson’s gaze moved to the screen at the end of the table. It was dark. No slides. No charts. Only the black reflection of three people caught in a dangerous silence.
“I see,” he said slowly.
Adam forced himself to nod. “Yes, sir. We were just going over the figure
