Elena’s POV

The elevator doors slid open with a soft sound, and I stepped out into a corridor so bright that I paused without meaning to.

Floor-to-ceiling glass lined both sides, revealing the interior of the building dropping downward in precise, layered symmetry. Offices, walkways, and open spaces stacked neatly below, all steel and glass, cold and perfectly ordered. The openness felt almost oppressive, as if there was nowhere to hide, nowhere to look away.

At the far end of the ...