Katherine sat at her desk outside Felix's office, her fingers moving quickly across the keyboard, inputting figures from a morning meeting summary. Her routine felt familiar again—comfortable even—as though the whirlwind of emotions from the past few days had settled into the background.
It felt good to work again. Her mind welcomed the distraction, welcomed the predictability of schedules, emails, and endless to-do lists.
But just as she leaned forward to adjust a paperclip on the thick report stack, she heard it.
Ding.
The chime of the elevator echoed faintly from the end of the hallway, its doors sliding open with a smooth mechanical hiss.
She glanced up automatically, expecting perhaps a delivery person or one of the finance heads. Instead, her posture stiffened the moment her eyes caught a familiar silhouette stepping elegantly into the hall.
Victoria Crawford.
