Amara didn't sleep.Not really. She lay in bed that night with her eyes wide open, watching the ceiling fan slice the air into slow, aching rotations. The echo of Seth's voice stayed in her head not what he said, but *how* he said it. Calm. Steady. Like her panic was just background noise. "You've been invisible since the day you started…"He'd seen her. The version of herself she tried to keep hidden behind polite emails and yes sirs.And what terrified her most wasn't the exposure.
It was that she *wanted him to look closer*.
The next morning, she walked into the office early.Earlier than usual.
The sky outside was still blushing grey-blue. Her flats echoed softly on the marble floors. For the first time, she didn't head to her desk. She took a detour back into the archive room.The file was gone.Deleted. Scrubbed clean. Whatever she'd seen last night was already buried.But it hadn't disappeared from her memory.
Especially not the message: "Then we bury it. And anyone who's digging."She ran a hand through her hair.
This wasn't some low-level office scandal. This was deliberate, dangerous.And she was now… part of it.
By 9:00 a.m., the office buzzed with its usual rhythm: too much coffee, fake smiles, soft clicks of keyboards trying to prove their owners belonged. Amara tried to blend in. But every time she passed a reflective surface, the elevator doors, a glass panel, her own screen she didn't recognize the woman inside.There was steel in her now.
And something else: daring
At 11:43 a.m., Seth called her into his office.Not with a calendar ping.Not through his assistant inbox.He simply opened his door, looked directly at her, and said, "Come in."
Her legs moved before her mind did.He motioned toward the chair across from his desk.She didn't sit."Why did you test me?" she asked, voice low but even.He looked at her for a long moment.
Then: "Because no one else in this company is as quiet as you and that kind of quiet always has meaning." Amara's arms crossed over her chest. "That's not an answer."
"It's the only one you're getting right now."Their eyes locked.
He was always calm and always composed. But she saw something in his expression that hadn't been there yesterday.
Doubt. Not in her. In himself. "You're not like them," he said. "Like who?"
"The ones who nod and smile and trade their conscience for paychecks.""I haven't decided who I am yet," she whispered."That's what makes you dangerous."The words landed between them like sparks on dry paper.Dangerous.
No one had ever called her that in her life.She should've felt afraid. Or ashamed.
But instead…She felt seen.And stronger.
After lunch, Amara went to the 17th floor.
No one from her department ever had business there, but she knew that was where the financials were kept. Real ones. Not the public documents curated for shareholders.
She didn't intend to hack or steal anything.She just wanted to feel what it was like to step outside the line.To be bold. Curious. Reckless.But when the elevator doors slid open, she wasn't alone. Seth was there leaning against the wall, sleeves rolled, tie loosened. He looked at her like he already knew."Following the smoke?" "I'm not stupid," she said, softer than she meant to."I never said you were. But you're trying to keep me scared.No,he said. "I'm trying to keep you safe."
They stared at each other.And then he took a step closer. She didn't move.
"You're not the same girl who walked into my office six months ago," he said. I know
He looked down, then back at her, something flickering behind his eyes.
"I don't get involved with anyone I work with," he said. "That's been my rule since I started this company.""Then we already broke it," Amara said.He didn't smile.But he didn't look away, either.
Later that day, Amara found a message in her inbox.
NO SUBJECT, NO SENDER
They're watching you now.
Be careful who you trust.
R.J.
Her blood turned cold.R.J.
The other name from the file. The one who said: "Then we bury it."She looked out the glass walls of her office.Everyone seemed normal.
But everything had changed.