The rest of the day blurred past Kyle in a haze of reports, half-answered emails, and the low hum of the office air conditioning. He also worked on the offshore account records Olivia had dropped earlier.Hours later, he shut down his laptop and left Transcorp for Nathan's apartment.Once there, he knocked twice before the door was opened.Nathan stood there in a faded T-shirt and jeans, a half-empty beer bottle already in hand."You're quite on time," Nathan said, stepping aside. "Didn't have much to do in the office today?""Not really." Kyle walked in, dropped his bag on the couch, and accepted the second bottle Nathan pulled from the fridge. "Couldn't stop thinking about your call, so I worked really fast to earn an extra minute or two.""Ah, I see," Nathan replied, sinking into the opposite chair and leaning forward. "I overheard Vivian's call in a mini-store last night."Kyle sat down. "She wasn't aware of it, was she?""Of course not," Nathan replied with widening eyes. "But it

Kyle's eyes widened. The words hit him like a blow, knocking the air from his lungs. He took an involuntary step backward, the lobby floor suddenly feeling unstable beneath his shoes."Oh my God," he muttered, his gaze darting around the lobby as if searching for some sign that what he just heard was some cruel joke.Catherine. Dead?His head was still reeling when Dora's voice cut through the fog. "Gentlemen," she said, addressing the two visitors. "Please come with me to my office."They turned without protest and began following her toward the elevators.Kyle watched them move, his mind lagging several seconds behind reality. Catherine's face flashed in his memory–the young secretary who had looked scared to death when Dora questioned her two days ago. Dead? How could that be?A familiar voice cut through his thoughts. "Kyle?"He turned to see Olivia striding in through the glass entrance doors of Transcorp. She closed the distance quickly, her expression shifting from casual gre

Olivia laughed, the sound low and warm as she closed the remaining distance between them."Alright, you got me," she said in a soft tone. "Is it going to be today then?"Their eyes met. Her smile remained, soft and somewhat insistent.Kyle's lips parted as he readied a response, the words already forming. But he casually looked past her shoulder, only to stop as he saw Dora standing just outside the glass walls of his office.For one suspended second their gazes locked. Something sharp and unreadable flickered across Dora's face before she turned away without a word and walked off.Kyle's pulse jumped. He brushed past Olivia without a second thought, the door swinging open under his hand as he stepped into the corridor.Behind him, Olivia gave off a quiet sigh and rubbed her forehead."Dora," Kyle called as he reached her just as she was turning into her office. His hand found hers, fingers closing gently around her wrist."Dora," he called again. She stopped, and for a moment, neith

Kyle woke to the gray light of early morning and the muted vibration of his phone against the nightstand.He reached for the device without sitting up, thumb sliding across the screen. Six missed calls. All from Sophia. Two from the night before, four more stacked in the last hour.He stared at the list for a few seconds, then locked the phone and set it faced-down. The anger from the previous night still sat heavy in his chest, but he refused to give it more air."Not today," he mumbled, swinging his legs out of bed.He reached for his running shorts and a dark long-sleeve shirt, putting them on before leaving the room.Downstairs, Eleanor was just stirring on the couch. The blanket he had draped over her last night had slipped to her waist, and she blinked at him blearily as he crossed the living room."You're up early," she murmured in a voice thick with sleep."Going for a run," he replied as he headed for the door.She nodded, yawning widely. "Would have joined you, but–""You're

Kyle gripped the steering wheel tighter as the city slid past in gray streaks and concrete glass. Midtown traffic crawled the way it always did on a Saturday that refused to feel like a weekend.Horns barked somewhere behind him, and a delivery truck idled too long at the light on Lexington. But he barely registered any of it.His mind kept replaying the look on James' face back in college when he made that joke about screwing all the women in Kyle's life.Kyle had walked away that day with his fists clenched so hard his knuckles ached for several hours. Half a decade later, the memory still sat under his ribs like a bruise that never really faded.When he reached Nathan's apartment, he took the front steps two at a time. The front door was unlocked. Kyle pushed it open and saw his friend right where he expected–hunched over his monitor, fingers flying across his keyboard."Morning," Nathan said without looking up. "You barged in like somebody stole your lunch money.""Hey, Nathan." K