I stopped dead.
My hand froze halfway to my pocket. My stomach dropped, that cold, instinctive lurch that always came with something important, something dangerous. I stared at the panel longer than I meant to, reading it again and again like the words might rearrange themselves into something less inconvenient.
Dirty Closet.
Find the truth about Bellings.
The system didn't hand out quests like this for nothing. Not main quests. Not with rewards like that. This wasn't some optional side bullshit. This was the system planting its feet and telling me, very clearly, that walking away was no longer an option.
Slowly, I glanced back over my shoulder.
The door to Chase's office was open now.
He was sitting behind his desk, posture relaxed, one hand resting near his laptop, the other folded loosely over it. He was smiling at me. Not wide, not forced. Calm. Professional. The kind of smile that was meant to put people at ease.
Instead, every nerve in my body screamed.
