SKYLER POV — CHAPTER 46
The silence hits first.
Not the calm kind.
The kind that means something already exploded and everyone’s waiting to see who notices the shrapnel.
I step into Skye’s office and immediately clock the damage.
Too many people.
Too much power.
Too many egos packed into one room like a bad idea waiting for permission.
Skye turns toward me.
Iris looks relieved.
And then—
Oh.
Oh, f**k no.
The recognition doesn’t come with bells or magic or whatever cosmic nonsense people romanticize. It’s blunt. Immediate. Like my brain just slammed a red stamp across my life that says MISTAKE.
My chest tightens.
My spine straightens.
My mouth opens before my common sense has a chance to intervene.
“You’ve got to be f*****g kidding me.”
The man across the room freezes.
Ac
