Adrian did not move immediately. He remained where he stood, positioned just beyond the main flow of the executive floor, his presence unnoticed by most and deliberately ignored by the few who recognised him. His attention stayed fixed on Lucien and Seraphina as they walked together, their pace aligned, their silence carrying a kind of ease that had not existed before.
From a distance, it looked simple. Two people moving through a familiar space. From where Adrian stood, it looked like something else entirely, something that should not have formed.
He had spent months studying patterns, not just financial trends and market shifts, but behaviour. Response timing. Emotional thresholds, the way pressure created cracks, and the way those cracks widened over time.
