THE very next morning saw Oswald running down the stairs in a haste like manner, his mind weighed down by thoughts that had kept him restless the previous night.

The unease in his chest wouldn't subside. Sophia's memory, Orlanda's unsettling resemblance to her, and now, the revelation that Robert Bloch had been involved in the sabotage of his contract, all these thoughts brewed in him like a storm. There was no space for something as mundane as breakfast, at all.

He had barely slept, his mind replaying the past, and now, he had no appetite. He just needed to get to work, to drown the torment in numbers and meetings....