Neo and Aiden resumed work like nothing had ever happened.
The building hummed with its usual rhythm keyboards clicking, low conversations drifting through open spaces, the faint scent of brewed coffee lingering in the air. If anyone noticed them return after their absence, no one said a word. They exchanged brief nods with passing staff, offered polite responses, slipped easily back into routine. Normal. Almost too normal.
At the junction where their paths split, Aiden tapped Neo lightly on the shoulder.
"Later," he said.
Neo nodded once. "Later."
They separated without another word, each disappearing into their respective departments as though the world hadn't shifted slightly off its axis the night before.
Neo headed for the elevator.
The doors slid open with a soft chime, carrying him upward in silence. When they opened again, Rita was already at her post, standing behind the desk like she'd been waiting for him specifically. The moment she spotted him, her face lit up. She rushed forward and wrapped her arms around him without warning.
"Where have you been?" she demanded, hugging him tight. "You just left me here alone. No messages. Not even a notice. You stranded me with Lucas you know how he gets."
Neo let out a quiet laugh, his arms coming around her automatically. The height difference was obvious Rita barely reached his chest but she fit there like she belonged.
"I'm so sorry," he said softly. "Something important came up. I didn't mean to do all that."
She pulled back just enough to glare at him.
"I'll make it up to you," he added quickly. "Tell me what you want. Mocha? Latte? You want me to fill in for you on a day you don't come in? Name it."
Rita's eyes sparkled. "I'll take all of them."
Neo scoffed. "You're a thief."
"Never hid it."
They laughed, the sound light and easy, like it had always been. When they finally stepped apart, Rita returned to her desk, still smiling.
"And Lucas?" Neo asked as he moved past her. "Is he in yet?"
"Nope," she said. "But he'll be soon. So go in there and do the needful before he arrives. I'll go prepare the coffee."
Neo paused, glancing back at her with a small smile. "What would I do without you?"
"Nothing," Rita said without hesitation. "Absolutely nothing. Now shoo time's ticking."
He raised his hands in surrender and walked toward the office.
From the outside, everything looked the same. Familiar. Safe.
But beneath Neo's calm steps and easy smiles, something had shifted settled into place with deliberate precision. Whatever had begun in the shadows was already moving forward, quiet and unseen.
Lucas arrived with Kellan.
Word had already reached them quietly, efficiently that their two missing workers had returned. No explanations given. No questions asked. They spoke in low tones as they walked, conversation anchored on logistics: the shipment arriving in the coming days, the timing, the route, who would be present for unloading and who would not. Names were mentioned, crossed out mentally, rearranged. Decisions were made without ceremony.
By the time they reached the corridor that split toward their offices, everything that needed to be said had been said.
Kellan veered off first.
Lucas continued alone.
His steps were long and measured, each one deliberate, calculated. Conversations along the hallway died the moment he passed. People straightened instinctively, offering greetings he barely acknowledged. When he reached the elevator, the few employees waiting stepped back without thinking, eyes lowering, bodies shifting away to give him space. The doors closed with Lucas inside alone, as always.
When the elevator opened on his floor, Rita was already there.
She stood straighter the second she saw him, coffee in hand, freshly prepared.
"Good morning, sir."
"Morning, Rita," Lucas replied, his tone even as he walked past her, already focused on the office ahead.
He pushed the door open.
Neo was standing there.
Not seated. Not waiting casually. Standing directly in front of him, posture relaxed but intentional, as though he had chosen the exact spot to make a point. For a fraction of a second, the room seemed to still, the air tightening in a way that had nothing to do with silence.
Rita stepped in behind Lucas, set his coffee down carefully on the desk, and felt it instantly.
The tension. The charge. The unmistakable sense that whatever this was, it was not meant for witnesses.
She didn't look at either of them for too long. She didn't say a word. She turned and left, closing the door softly behind her and then, once she was safely out of sight, she moved faster than she ever had, because Rita was not foolish enough to stay where storms were about to collide.
Inside the office, Lucas stopped walking.
His gaze settled fully on Neo, slow and assessing, like he was seeing him again for the first time. Neo met it without flinching, hands loosely at his sides, expression unreadable. Calm. Almost respectful.
Almost.
The door stood closed behind them.
And whatever normal had existed moments earlier was gone.
Why were you absent from this office without leaving a notice to anyone?"
Lucas's voice was steady, controlled, but there was an edge beneath it..something cold and unyielding. He didn't break eye contact. Not once.
Neo met his stare.
"I had something important to handle," Neo replied calmly. "I didn't mean to leave like that."
Lucas took a slow step forward.
"And what," he asked, "was so important that you couldn't even inform Rita?" His tone hardened. "Even if you chose not to tell me. Do you have any idea how many things you disrupted? Arrangements you threw off?"
Neo swallowed once. "I...I'm extremely sorry. But I can't say what it was that needed my attention-"
"Get out."
The word cut through the room.
Neo blinked. "W-what did you just say?"
Lucas's voice rose, not in volume alone but in authority. "I said get out of my office. And don't return."
Neo's composure cracked, just barely. "You can't be serious."
"You left this office unattended," Lucas continued, unmoved. "You refused to provide a reasonable explanation. That tells me everything I need to know."
"But Rita was here—"
Lucas cut him off sharply.
"Rita does not do your job." His eyes darkened. "I don't pay Rita to do what you are employed to do. And if you won't give me a reason that justifies your absence, then you can get the hell out of my building."
Silence slammed down between them.
Neo stood there, stunned, jaw tight, eyes no longer wide but calculating now something colder slipping into place behind them. The kind of look that made a person wonder whether they had just crossed someone… or exposed them.
Lucas didn't look away.
He was already done.
And for the first time since Neo had stepped into that office, it was impossible to tell who was being dismissed and who was being tested.
But you can't act like you don't know where I went," Neo said quietly. "You know exactly where I was, Lucas."
Lucas's expression didn't change.
"It's sir," he corrected smoothly. "Or boss. You will not address me by my name."
Authority rolled off him like heat.
Neo's jaw tightened, but he corrected himself. "Sir," he said, the word tasting wrong on his tongue. "You know where I went. You were there. Not too far from the street. Kellan was with you. So why all this drama?"
For the first time, Lucas smiled.
It wasn't warm. It wasn't amused.
It was sharp.
"The audacity that flows from you," Lucas said, turning slowly, "is beginning to irritate me." He took a measured step closer. "And even though I was there, that does not give you the right to talk back to me."
Neo didn't retreat.
"You're overstepping," Lucas continued. "Which is why you and Aiden will be coming to the estate. Effective immediately." He turned away then, moving toward his desk. "I don't need either of you here anymore."
The words landed hard.
Neo let out a short laugh dry, humorless.
"Oh," he said. "So that's how it works. You use people, then dump them. No questions. No explanations."
Lucas stopped.
When he turned back, the air in the room shifted.
"When I walked into this office," Lucas said slowly, "and asked you a simple question, what exactly do you think I was asking for?"
Neo's eyes darkened.
"Oh no," he said softly. "No, boss. We both know what you were asking."
Lucas didn't interrupt.
"You wanted the truth," Neo continued. "You wanted to know what's behind the mask you think I'm wearing." His lips curved, just slightly. "True or false?"
Silence stretched.
Lucas studied him like a chessboard every move, every possible outcome.
"You're assuming," Lucas said at last, "that you're important enough to be hiding anything worth uncovering."
Neo stepped forward then. Just one step. Enough to cross an invisible line.
"That's the thing," he replied evenly. "You don't dig unless you already think there's something there."
Lucas's gaze sharpened.
"And if there is?" he asked.
Neo held his stare.
"Then you should ask yourself," he said, "whether you really want the answers or if you're just afraid of what it means that you didn't see it sooner."
The room felt smaller.
He turned then, heading for the door, his movements controlled, precise.
"I'll come to the estate," Neo added without looking back. "Both of us will."
He paused at the door.
"But don't pretend this is about my absence." His voice dropped. "This is about control."
The door closed behind him.
Lucas remained where he was, eyes fixed on the space Neo had occupied.
And for the first time since he'd ordered the investigation to begin, a single, unwelcome thought crossed his mind.
Neo didn't slow until he was three corridors away from Lucas's office.
Only then did he turn the corner and almost collide with Aiden.
Aiden was leaning against the wall near the emergency stairwell, arms crossed, head tilted back against the glass. He looked relaxed at first glance. Too relaxed. But Neo caught it immediately the tight jaw, the stillness that meant restraint, not calm.
Neo stopped in front of him.
"How did it go?" he asked quietly.
Aiden didn't answer right away. His eyes flicked up, met Neo's, then dropped again.
Neo exhaled. "Did Kellan question you too?"
Aiden let out a slow breath through his nose. "Yeah."
That single word carried weight.
Neo studied him more closely now. This wasn't the Aiden who joked his way through pressure. This wasn't the one who smiled to soften rooms. Something in him had gone cold.
"What did he say?" Neo asked.
Aiden's lips curved but there was no humor in it. "He asked where I was."
Neo nodded. "And?"
"And I asked him why he was asking."
That made Neo still.
Before he could respond, Aiden pushed off the wall, gaze unfocusing slightly the way it did when he slipped into memory.
Kellan's office was quieter than Lucas's. Less imposing. More dangerous for it.
Aiden had stood where Neo stood now hands loose at his sides, posture open, expression easy.
At first.
"You were absent yesterday," Kellan said, flipping through a tablet without looking up. "Care to explain?" "Didn't think I needed permission to breathe," Aiden replied lightly.
Kellan looked up then.
Slow. Assessing. "This isn't a joke."
Aiden's smile faded. "I know," he said.
Silence stretched.
"You didn't inform anyone," Kellan continued. "No notice. No message. That's not how this works."
Aiden leaned forward, palms resting on the desk. Not aggressive. Just deliberate.
"Then maybe you should ask yourself why two people felt comfortable disappearing at the same time."
Kellan's eyes narrowed. "You're implying something."
"I'm stating something," Aiden corrected. "There's a difference."
The room shifted.
"You're talking back," Kellan said.
"So are you," Aiden replied calmly. "Only difference is you think your tone makes it law."
Kellan stood.
"You're either reckless," he said, "or you think you're untouchable."
Aiden straightened, eyes hard now. Unapologetic.
"Neither," he said. "I just don't flinch when men with borrowed power raise their voices."
That was when Kellan stopped questioning him.
Not because he'd won.
But because he'd learned something he hadn't meant to.
Aiden blinked, the memory settling.
"He didn't fire me," Aiden said quietly. "Didn't threaten me either."
Neo frowned. "That's not good."
"No," Aiden agreed. "It means they're reassessing."
They stood there for a moment, the hum of the building filling the space between them. Around them, people moved. Laughed. Worked. Unaware.
Neo glanced at Aiden. "You didn't sound like yourself."
Aiden finally looked at him fully.
"Neither did you."
That landed.
Neo didn't deny it.
"You think they know?" Neo asked.
Aiden shrugged. "They know something's off. They don't know what." His gaze sharpened. "And that scares them more."
Neo's phone buzzed in his pocket, but he ignored it.
"Lucas ordered us to the estate," he said.
Aiden's brows lifted slightly. "Both of us?"
"Yes."
Aiden smiled then.
Still no humor. Just intent.
"Guess the masks are slipping."
Neo watched him closely. For the first time not as a friend, not as an ally but as something else.
Someone who could stand in a room with monsters and not blink.
"We need to be careful," Neo said.
Aiden nodded. "We always were."
They pushed off the wall together, moving in sync as they walked away.
And somewhere above them, behind glass and power and legacy, two men were beginning to wonder.
Neo worked in silence.
The office had returned to its usual rhythm keyboards clicking, phones ringing, footsteps moving with purpose but the air between him and Lucas stayed tight, coiled, waiting. The earlier confrontation lingered like smoke that refused to clear.
Files lay neatly stacked on Neo's desk, each one handled with precision. He answered calls with a calm voice, scheduled meetings, reorganized documents that didn't need reorganizing. Busy work. Grounding work. Anything to keep his mind from drifting too far.
Still, it drifted.
Every now and then, his gaze lifted just for a second toward Lucas.
Lucas sat behind his desk, jacket off now, sleeves rolled up, eyes locked on his screen. Focused. Controlled. Untouchable. Nothing about him suggested the man had just threatened to erase Neo from his life like a misplaced document.
Neo's fingers paused briefly on the edge of a file.
If only you knew, he thought.
If only you found out sooner… before someone else twists it. Before they turn me into your weakness.
His jaw tightened.
Maybe tonight, Neo told himself. Maybe I tell you everything before your enemies do. Before they use me to break you.
He returned to work.
Time passed quietly. Too quietly.
By the time Neo glanced up again, the sky outside the tall windows had darkened fully, city lights flickering to life below. The office floor had thinned out; only a few loyal staff remained, moving carefully, speaking softly.
Lucas closed a file and slid it into a neat pile.
"Are you done?" he asked.
Neo straightened immediately. "Yes, I am."
Lucas stood, already composed, already distant. "We'll go together. Kellan and Aiden will come separately. He has the second car."
Neo nodded. "Understood."
"You're riding with me."
"Anything you say, boss."
He gathered Lucas's tablet and the remaining files, holding them close to his chest as he walked ahead toward the elevator. The doors slid open with a quiet chime, and they stepped inside.
The doors closed.
Silence wrapped around them.
The elevator descended slowly, the faint hum of machinery filling the space. Neo could see Lucas clearly in the mirrored walls his posture straight, his expression unreadable, his eyes forward.
The tension was physical now. Pressing. Heavy.
Neo swallowed.
"So…" he murmured, barely louder than a breath. "Do you still trust me?"
Lucas didn't turn.
The seconds stretched. The elevator continued its descent.
Neo's eyes flicked to Lucas's reflection again, searching for something anger, doubt, anything.
Nothing.
Neo's fingers tightened around the tablet.
"Please," he whispered, voice steady but honest. "At least for tonight."
Still no response.
The elevator doors opened.
Lucas stepped out first without looking back.
Neo followed, heart pounding, the unspoken words stacking between them like loaded weapons waiting for the estate, waiting for the night, waiting for the truth to finally demand its price.