"Second half will be worse," Victor said, his tone almost conversational.
Elias shot him a look. "Is that supposed to prepare me or scare me?"
"Neither," Victor said, standing as the signal to reconvene flashed across the room. "It's so you know I'll be watching."
By the time they sat back down, the stares had settled over him again, heavier than the air conditioning could cut. Every nod, every sidelong glance carried expectation. The bond was a steady weight in his chest, Victor's quiet certainty bleeding through it, but it wasn't enough to keep the knot in his shoulders from tightening.
When the next speaker took the podium, Elias slipped out as unobtrusively as he could. The bathroom wasn't far, just down a short corridor lined with bland, corporate art, and the moment the door swung shut behind him, the quiet hit like a release.
