Chapter 56
Blackwood Industries looked exactly the way it had yesterday.
The marble floors gleamed beneath the morning lights.
Receptionists welcomed visitors with practiced smiles.
Employees crossed the lobby carrying coffee and laptops.
Business continued.
As though the world hadn’t spent the entire night tearing Emma Laurent apart.
Emma stepped through the revolving doors.
Immediately—
she felt it.
Not whispers.
Those were easy to ignore.
This was quieter.
A receptionist who greeted her every morning smiled politely before lowering her eyes.
Two managers standing near the elevators stopped talking just a second too soon.
One of them slipped his phone into his pocket.
The other suddenly found the floor fascinating.
Emma kept walking.
Her posture never changed.
Neither
