Xavier’s POV

Sometimes betrayal doesn’t come through enemies; it walks in every morning with a smile and a cup of coffee.

The air in my office felt wrong the moment I stepped in.

Too quiet, Too still. The kind of silence that hums under your skin like a warning.

Papers were stacked exactly how I’d left them, my computer logged out, blinds half open everything looked normal.

But it wasn’t. I’d spent too many years reading boardrooms and battlefields to mistake normal for safe.

“Good ...