The executive floor felt different after Adrian's visit.
Not louder. Not visibly hostile.
Just sharper.
Information traveled fast in companies like this, even when no one admitted to speaking. By late afternoon, I caught the shift in eye contact, the subtle recalculation in posture when I walked past.
They knew something had happened.
They didn't know what.
But they sensed movement.
Julian hadn't mentioned Adrian again for the rest of the day. He moved through meetings with mechanical precision, dismantling projections, refining numbers, recalibrating timelines for the Valeris integration as if nothing had disrupted his rhythm.
But I knew him well enough now.
Silence was never absence.
It was strategy.
At seven-thirty, Elena informed me that Mr. Thorne wanted me upstairs.
Not h
