Allari's POV
I left the villa a little past nine, the image of Bethel hunched over her textbook, muttering finance definitions under her breath like an incantation, still lingering in my head longer than it probably should have. I told myself it was because her progress mattered to the assignment. I wasn't entirely convinced of that anymore, but it was easier to file it there than examine it too closely.
The office was quiet by the time I arrived, most of the floor already dark except for the emergency lighting and the faint hum of the server room down the hall. I'd only come for the quarterly compliance report — something my father wanted reviewed before the board meeting Thursday — and I expected to be in and out within twenty minutes.
I did not expect to find my office door already o
