[Blackthorn Enterprise]
By the time the office lights dimmed to their evening setting, Lyra's shoulders ached in a way that felt earned.
She leaned back in her chair and let out a slow breath, rolling her neck once before saving her work.
Around her, the Operations floor was winding down, chairs pushed in, quiet conversations drifting toward weekend plans and dinner orders.
Just normal things.
Mira popped up beside her desk. "You survived."
Lyra smiled faintly. "Barely."
"That meeting was brutal," Mira said. "Riven likes to watch people squirm."
Lyra paused. "You noticed?"
"I think everybody did." Mira shrugged. "But it wasn't that, Riven likes to stare at new people. I mean, it's more like assessing. He is intense but fair."
Lyra nodded, unsure what to say. Assessing felt like an understatement.
Still, the strange pull she had felt yesterday never returned. No warmth. No pressure and nothing coiling beneath her ribs.
She felt like herself again and that had to mean something.
She packed her bag and followed the others toward the elevators, the familiar hum of the building settling around her like a cocoon.
…..
When she stepped outside, the evening air greeted her with a sharp chill that made her inhale deeply.
City lights flickered to life, traffic humming steadily along the street.
Nothing felt wrong.
She walked a few steps away from the building, then slowed.
Just for a moment, she felt something. The sensation wasn't warmth or fear
It was the faintest awareness more like a pressure behind her shoulder blades, as if someone were watching her leave.
Lyra glanced back.
The glass façade of Blackthorn Enterprises reflected the city lights, opaque and unreadable. No figures stood near the entrance and no movement caught her eye.
She shook her head softly. "Get a grip," she murmured.
She turned and kept walking telling herself that she was being paranoid.
….
[The Jingle bell Cafe]
The café was already crowded when Lyra stepped inside, the warm scent of coffee and sugar wrapping around her like a familiar blanket.
She spotted Maya immediately, perched at a corner table with one leg crossed over the other and her phone abandoned beside an untouched latte.
"You are late," Maya said, grinning as Lyra approached. "Which means either your first day was amazing or disastrous."
Lyra slid into the chair opposite her and dropped her bag at her feet. "Somewhere in between."
Maya pushed the latte toward her. "I ordered you the usual. You look like you will need it."
Lyra laughed softly and took a grateful sip. "You know me too well."
"So," Maya leaned forward, eyes gleaming. "Tell me everything. Was it terrifying? Were people horrible? Was the building as intimidating on the inside as it is from the outside?"
"It's intense," Lyra admitted. "But not in a bad way. Everyone was professional and surprisingly nice."
"See?" Maya said smugly. "I told you."
"And the pay still feels unreal," Lyra added. "I keep waiting for someone to email me and say it was a mistake."
Maya waved her hand dismissively. "Nope, you earned it and now—" she lowered her voice dramatically, "you are officially one step closer to freedom."
Lyra smiled, stirring her coffee. "You mean moving out?"
"I mean us moving out," Maya corrected. "Imagine it. A place with actual sunlight with no creaky floors and with no handsome mysterious uncle energy."
Lyra snorted. "Rogan would haunt us."
"He already does," Maya said. "Emotionally."
They both laughed.
"Did you get the sacred opportunity to see the CEO?" Maya asked casually, then paused. "Or is he one of those elusive billionaire types?"
Lyra shook her head. "He is on leave apparently. Something sudden."
"Tragic," Maya sighed. "I was hoping for eye candy."
"There is someone else," Lyra said, hesitating. "His name is Riven. He was running the meeting."
Maya's eyebrows shot up. "Riven? Oh, I have heard about him."
"You have?" Lyra blinked.
"Internet whispers," Maya said. "Apparently handsome, intimidating and definitely not single."
Lyra rolled her eyes. "You know way too much."
"I know these things," Maya said proudly. "So? Was he hot?"
Lyra thought of the way his gaze had lingered, sharp and assessing and felt a strange twist in her stomach.
"He was intense," she said carefully.
Maya grinned. "That's a yes."
Lyra shook her head, smiling despite herself. "You are impossible."
They talked for another half hour about work, about rent prices, about weekend plans and about nothing that mattered and everything that did.
By the time Lyra stood to leave, her earlier tension had melted away.
She hugged Maya goodbye outside the café, the city buzzing softly around them.
"Text me when you get home," Maya said. "And tomorrow too."
"I will," Lyra promised before leaving
….
The street was darker than Lyra remembered.
She slowed instinctively, fingers tightening around the strap of her bag as the hum of the café faded behind her.
This shortcut had always been quiet but tonight the silence felt heavier and stretched too thin.
Her footsteps echoed, once, twice.
Then another set followed.
Lyra frowned and kept walking.
"Don't be paranoid," she told herself but the feeling didn't leave.
It crawled up her spine instead, sharp and cold, the unmistakable awareness of being watched.
Her pace quickened.
The streetlight ahead flickered weakly, casting uneven shadows along the pavement.
And then she saw it, far behind her, half-hidden between the glow and the dark—
A silhouette, tall and still.
A man in a long coat with the brim of a hat cutting his face into shadow.
Lyra's stomach dropped.
When she stopped walking, so did he.
The air felt suddenly thin, like it had been pulled tight around her lungs. Every instinct screamed at her to turn back, to take the longer route, to not be here.
And for the first time, she regretted taking the shortcut. But now it was too late to turn around
She swallowed and forced herself forward.
But the footsteps followed, closer now.
Her heart slammed against her ribs. She clenched her jaw, refusing to look back again.
Every nerve in her body screamed at her to run
But before she could decide, the footsteps sped up….
….