Elena’s POV

The silence after Liana’s question stretched across the office like a held breath.

I looked at Mr. Nik, searching his face for any sign of the panic I felt climbing my throat. My cheek still burned where Liana’s palm had landed. The empty space on my left ring finger felt enormous, exposed, damning. I waited for him to stiffen, to search for an explanation, to look even slightly caught.

Instead, he smiled.

It was small.

Controlled. Almost private. The kind of smile that did not belong in a moment this sharp. Confusion flickered through me first, then something closer to dread. Liana’s confident expression sharpened. She thought she...