The scandal didn't begin with a leak.
It began with a pause.
Mira noticed it three days after the vote.
Not in headlines.
Not in Daniel's statements.
In conversation.
Rooms went quieter when she entered.
Not hostile.
Not cold.
Measured.
She felt it in the way Council members spoke slightly slower, glancing at one another before referencing Stability review triggers.
She felt it in the way journalists framed questions.
"Executive Director Lawson, how will you ensure your initiatives don't trigger Vale's oversight mechanisms?"
Not "the Coalition."
Not "the Stability body."
Vale.
Her fiancé.
Reduced to surname leverage.
It was subtle.
But it was spreading.
Across town, Adrian felt something similar.
Coalition members were emboldened.
The Amendment's passage had shifted tone.
There was less defensiveness.
More authority.
