Shark had seen Nyra leave before.
Zurich. Late nights. Flights booked last minute. Business that pulled her away for days at a time. He'd never liked it, but he'd respected it. ValeTech was her exit plan. Her clean future.
This time was different.
He stood in the warehouse with his jacket off, sleeves rolled up, hands resting on the edge of the table. The city moved around him engines humming, footsteps echoing, men waiting for orders. Everything worked the way it should.
Too smoothly.
Nyra wasn't here to check numbers over his shoulder. Wasn't correcting routes. Wasn't pointing out the one flaw everyone else missed. Even when she traveled, she stayed connected.
Now?
Silence.
"She'll be fine," one of the men said carefully, mistaking the stillness for concern.
Shark's eyes lifted slowly. The man swallowed and looked away.
Shark didn't worry loudly. He didn't pace. He adjusted.
Routes were tightened. Drop-offs staggered. New faces were delayed. Anyone who'd been too curious lately found themselves suddenly unnecessary. Eastside didn't need to know why things changed only that they had.
This wasn't panic.
It was prevention.
He lit a cigarette and took a slow drag, eyes scanning the dark outside the warehouse. Nyra being gone shouldn't have unsettled him. She had her own life. Her own ambitions. He'd always known that.
Still… this absence pressed differently.
Zurich had been loud calls, complaints, jokes about airports and bad coffee. This one was quiet. Controlled. Deliberate.
That made him alert.
His phone buzzed.
A brief message from Elias.
She's resting. All good.
Shark stared at the screen for a long moment before locking the phone.
"Good," he muttered.
But he didn't ease up.
Somewhere in the city, someone had tested boundaries not long ago. Not enough to start a war. Just enough to remind him that attention had shifted. That eyes were watching for gaps.
Nyra's absence was a gap.
He crushed the cigarette under his boot. "No mistakes," he said to no one in particular. "Not now."
The city obeyed.
For the moment.
Shark didn't plan to pull her back. Didn't plan to interfere with her clean world. ValeTech was supposed to be untouched. Untangled.
But if this quiet stretched too long…
He glanced once more at the dark streets.
Zurich had been business.
This felt like a crossroads.
And Shark had never trusted calm before impact.