I left the restroom without looking back.

The hallway was quiet now.

Most of the fellow new staff had already scattered to their next orientation session. The hum of the building had softened into a distant rhythm—faint laughter somewhere down the hall, the tapping of keyboards, the soft rustle of paper sketches from one of the design rooms.

I walked toward the main hall, steady and composed.

I could still feel Serena’s eyes on me—not in the room anymore, but in my memory. That fake ...