Ava's POV

I pushed the lounge door open with my shoulder and let it swing shut behind me. Everything else was dark by now—the glass meeting rooms, the long stretch of desks, even the printers that never seemed to stop during the day. Only the lounge still held any light, and even that was turned down low, just the soft amber strips along the baseboards and the big screen glowing blue-white at the far end of the room.

It was empty. Completely empty. The long couch that faced the screen sat untouched, the two armchairs still pushed back against the wall, and a half-drunk bottle of water waited on the...