Nyra didn't feel it at ValeTech.
Not under the lights.
Not with people watching.
Not while her fingers moved fast and her mind stayed sharp.
She felt it later.
Night had already settled when she got back to the guest room too big, too clean, too quiet. Elias's mansion had a way of swallowing sound. Even the walls felt expensive and distant.
She shut the door behind her and leaned against it.
That's when it hit.
Her hands started shaking.
Not fear. Not pain.
Adrenaline leaving the body is a cruel thing it waits until you're alone, then pulls the rug out from under you.
Nyra slid down until she was sitting on the floor. Cool marble against her back. She stared at the ceiling, breathing slow, counting it out the way she'd taught herself years ago.
In.
Hold.
Out.
Adrian's voice replayed anyway.
Conference room. Now.
The way he'd looked at her furious, restrained, unraveling. The way control had slipped just enough for her to see it.
She hadn't planned to shake him like that.
She just… existed.
Nyra laughed softly, bitter. "Dumb," she muttered to herself.
She reached for her jacket pocket out of habit, then stopped.
No cigarette.
She closed her eyes.
For the first time since the warehouse, the image crept in uninvited the gunshot, the heat of blood, Shark's voice cutting through the chaos. Her shoulder throbbed faintly under the bandage.
Too many fronts.
Too many roles.
The genius.
The fixer.
The girl everyone underestimated.
The girl everyone wanted something from.
Adrian was just another variable.
That's what she told herself.
Still, her chest felt tight.
Not because she wanted him.
Because he saw her and not the way others did. Not as a myth. Not as a problem. But as something he couldn't place in a box.
And that scared men like him.
Nyra pushed herself up and crossed to the window. City lights stretched endlessly, cold and beautiful. Somewhere out there, ValeTech still hummed. Somewhere else, Eastside still watched.
She touched the glass lightly.
"I'm good," she whispered. "I'm always good."
But the echo didn't answer.
She stayed there a long time, standing in the dark, letting the aftershock pass through her instead of fighting it.
By the time she finally lay down, the shaking had stopped.
Her face was calm again.
Her mind was sharp again.
Tomorrow, she'd be untouchable.
But tonight
Tonight, she let herself feel it.
Just a little.