Adrian didn't believe in coincidence.
So when Nyra was late to the morning briefing by exactly three minutes, he noticed.
When she walked in calm instead of apologetic, he noticed that too.
She slid into her seat like she owned it, blazer open, locs tied back today, eyes already scanning the screen as if the meeting had started when she arrived.
Adrian stopped mid-sentence.
"Miss Nyra," he said evenly, "we start at nine."
She looked up. "It's nine-oh-three."
A few people shifted uncomfortably.
Adrian nodded once. "Noted. Try not to make a habit of it."
Nyra held his gaze. "Try not to confuse discipline with dominance."
Silence.
Elias froze beside her.
Adrian smiled but it didn't reach his eyes. "Let's continue."
He changed tactics after that.
He rerouted tasks. Tightened timelines. Gave Nyra responsibilities that sat just beyond reasonable. Not impossible never that but heavy enough to test her.
Pressure as leverage.
"Run the simulations again," he told her later. "Your assumptions are aggressive."
"They're accurate," she replied.
"Accuracy isn't everything," Adrian said. "Presentation matters."
Nyra leaned back in her chair. "You want it prettier or better?"
His jaw ticked. "I want it controlled."
She smiled faintly. "There it is."
By evening, the others had cleared out. Zurich glowed outside the windows, orderly and untouchable.
Nyra stayed.
She always stayed.
Adrian watched from his office, lights off, blinds half-drawn. She sat cross-legged in her chair now, shoes kicked off, fingers flying. No panic. No hesitation. Just focus.
Annoyingly unbreakable.
He stepped out.
"You don't have to prove anything," he said, stopping beside her desk.
She didn't look up. "Then stop testing me."
"I test everyone."
"Liar," she said calmly.
That got his attention.
She finally looked at him then, eyes sharp. "You're not trying to see if I can handle the work. You're trying to see if I'll bend."
Adrian studied her. "And will you?"
She closed her laptop slowly. "You tell me."
For a moment, something dangerous flickered between them. Not attraction alone something heavier. Power meeting resistance.
Adrian straightened. "You're walking a fine line."
Nyra stood, stepping past him without apology. "So are you."
She paused at the door, glancing back over her shoulder.
"You can apply all the pressure you want," she said. "But leverage only works if I'm afraid of losing something."
The door closed behind her.
Adrian stood there long after she was gone, her words settling like a verdict.
He hadn't broken her.
He hadn't slowed her down.
If anything
He'd given her momentum.
And for the first time in years, Adrian Vale wasn't sure who had leverage anymore.