Nyra slammed her laptop shut and rubbed her eyes.
Zurich was quiet, too quiet. Even the street outside, invisible through the floor-to-ceiling windows, looked controlled. Perfect. Deadly neat. The kind of city that whispered "you're out of place" to anyone who wasn't made of glass and steel.
She rubbed her temple. A full day of back-to-back meetings, simulations, and Adrian's quiet critiques had her knuckles white.
He's trying to break me, she thought, exhaling slowly. Good luck with that.
Adrian's voice over the phone didn't help.
"You're behind schedule," he said evenly. "I expect updates every hour."
Nyra smirked despite herself. "I'm ahead of the code, Vale. You just don't see it yet."
"Perception matters," he replied smoothly. "Don't make me reconsider sending you back."
Her laugh was sharp, low. "Good luck getting me on a plane without a reason that sticks. You really think a little spreadsheet pressure will scare me?"
Hours later, she sat on the hotel rooftop, city lights glittering like an alien skyline. She lit a cigarette, letting smoke curl upward. Each exhale carried frustration, a hint of nostalgia for the Eastside.
Shark would have words for this, she thought, smiling faintly. He'd laugh and tell me to ignore the fancy suits.
A gust of wind made her locs fall perfectly around her shoulders. She looked powerful. Dangerous. Even she knew it.
But the pressure was real. Adrian was watching. Always. Critiquing. Controlling. Testing.
And yet…
She couldn't deny something else.
That pull the one that tugged at her chest every time she caught his eyes. The same one that made him overstep, that made him lean too close, speak too sharply, give her assignments designed to bend her without breaking her.
It annoyed her. Infuriated her. And terrified her.
Meanwhile, Adrian stared at the city from his office window across the floor. He wasn't supposed to care. Nyra was everything he didn't want. She represented every red flag in his book: rebellious, defiant, independent, messy in ways he wasn't used to controlling.
And yet…
Her presence was magnetic. Every movement, every word, every glance hit him like a variable he couldn't calculate. Her body, her mind, her soul it all pulled at him in ways he hated.
It's just rebellion, he whispered to himself. I can leash it. I can control it. I can make it productive.
But even as he spoke, Adrian Vale knew something unspoken: he had weakness now.
And Nyra K. had no idea the kind of hold she already had.