It took exactly three days for the silence to break. Those seventy-two hours had been a masterclass in psychological warfare, a period where every notification on Jake's phone felt like a potential strike.
The brokerage didn't reach out with a phone call or a contrite apology from Daniel; instead, they sent a digital white flag in the form of a heavily encrypted PDF.
Jake was sitting at the small dining counter of his apartment, the late afternoon sun casting long, amber shadows across his workspace.
Outside, the glass towers of Aurelia City were beginning to glow like embers, their polished surfaces catching the dying light. Beside him, Aliya was curled up on the couch, ostensibly buried in a textbook, though her frequent glances toward his laptop betrayed her focus.
When the notification finally chirped, the sender's name was enough to make the air in the room feel momentarily thin: *Legal Department – Meridian Global Brokerage.*
