Mara's POV

The air in the company felt suffocating today.

Every hallway carried whispers. Eyes sliced into me with invisible knives. It clung to my skin like smoke I couldn’t shake.

I kept my chin lifted anyway. My steps steady. My breathing controlled. Strength wasn’t optional, it was survival.

Still… one thought kept clawing at the back of my mind:

Has Elias seen it?

Would he believe it?

How would he see me now?

I shoved the questions aside, though the anxiety only grew sharper.

I had just stacked a pile of files on my desk when the door burst open, slamming against the wall with a violent crash.

Andrea....