Not long after she got back to her room, the doorbell rang.
Standing outside the door were a few young colleagues from her team—Eric Johnson, the analyst, and Emma Davis, the technical specialist. Both had the soft, relaxed smiles that rarely come after finishing a full day of work.
Eric leaned in to peek, waving the tablet in his hand. "We've been tired all day. A few of us on the team who're still awake are getting together to play some games to unwind. You're the only one missing—you coming?"
After a moment of hesitation, Claire nodded. "Okay, let me grab a jacket."
The terrace bar that night was livelier than it had been the evening before. Soft jazz drifted through the air as guests murmured in low conversations in twos and threes.
After a few drinks, the atmosphere gradually war
