The clock on the desk read 2:17 AM. I was sitting exactly where I had been two hours ago, long after Emilia had retreated to the master suite, claiming a need for sleep that I knew was just a desperate need for distance.

The office was dark save for the cold blue glow of my monitors. I hadn't moved. I hadn't slept. I hadn't even processed the "college friend debt" story. I had simply waited for the strategic silence, the moment when even the security teams patrolling the floor settled into ...