The silence after the storm was deafening. The blaring alarms had been silenced, the shattered equipment cleared away, but the emotional wreckage lay strewn across the room, more potent than any physical debris.

Mansa’s quiet understanding was a mirror, and in it, Linsy saw the pathetic truth of her own heart reflected back. He knew. He had always known.

“So that’s it, then,” Michael’s voice cut through the heavy quiet, but the fury was gone, replaced by something colder, more ...