Nyra returned to ValeTech like nothing had happened.
No bandage visible.
No limp.
No story.
She wore black simple, sharp, deliberate. Locs pulled back clean. Face unreadable. The kind of calm that didn't invite questions.
Elias noticed immediately.
She didn't stop by his desk. Didn't joke. Didn't roll her eyes at the interns whispering as she passed. She went straight to her workstation and logged in without a word.
That wasn't her.
Elias leaned back slowly, watching. Something in her posture had shifted tighter, coiled, like she was walking through a room full of tripwires.
By noon, she was in Adrian's office.
Unannounced.
The assistant barely looked up before Nyra was already at the door. Adrian glanced up, surprise flickering for half a second before his expression locked into professionalism.
"Close the door," Nyra said.
Not a request.
Adrian stood and did as told. That alone annoyed him.
She didn't sit.
She stood in front of his desk, hands relaxed at her sides, eyes flat. No heat. No attitude. Worse.
"You authorized an internal audit on me," she said calmly.
Adrian didn't blink. "It was a precaution."
"A precaution against what?" Nyra asked. Her voice never rose. "My GPA? My syntax? Or the fact that I don't behave the way you're used to?"
His jaw tightened. "You've been unavailable. Your patterns shifted."
"That is not misconduct," she replied. "And you know it."
Silence stretched.
"You crossed a line," she continued. "Not legally. Ethically."
Adrian leaned back, folding his arms. "ValeTech protects itself."
Nyra nodded once. "So do I."
Her gaze sharpened just enough for him to feel it.
"I am here to tell you professionally that if Compliance digs where it shouldn't, they will find nothing. But they will also lose access to me. My work. My time."
A pause.
"And that loss will cost you more than my presence ever threatened."
Adrian stared at her, something unreadable flickering beneath his composure.
"You're threatening me?" he asked.
Nyra tilted her head slightly. "No. I'm setting boundaries. Something you preach but don't practice."
She turned for the door.
"Nyra," Adrian said sharply.
She stopped but didn't turn around.
"You don't get to investigate people just because they don't respond to you," she said quietly. "That's not control. That's insecurity."
The door closed behind her with a soft click.
Adrian stood there longer than he meant to.
Across the floor, Elias had watched Nyra walk past without meeting his eyes.
That was when his stomach dropped.
He followed her into the stairwell, catching the door before it shut.
"Hey," he said gently. "What's wrong?"
Nyra paused on the landing, hand on the rail. For a moment, she looked… tired. Just for a second.
"Something moved," she said. "And it shouldn't have."
Elias frowned. "Adrian?"
She didn't answer. That was enough.
"I'll cover," Elias said immediately. "Whatever it is."
Nyra met his eyes then truly met them.
"I know," she said. "That's why I trust you."
As she walked down the stairs, Elias stayed behind, jaw tight.
He pulled out his phone and sent a messageshort, careful, coded.
Adrian crossed professional boundaries. Pause all escalations.
No reply yet.
But Elias knew one thing for certain now:
This wasn't office drama.
This was pressure.
And someone at the top had started a fight they didn't understand.