[Evelina's POV—Vinter Corporation—One Month Later]
A month passed like a held breath.
Quiet on the surface. Violent underneath.
Theo didn't just restructure his security—he erased it. Old guards. Old servants. Familiar faces that had memorized corridors and habits for years—gone. Replaced with new ones whose eyes didn't linger, whose loyalty was fresh, sharp, and untested. The mansion changed its rhythm. So did the corporation.
And somewhere in that shift, I felt it.
Eyes.
Not clumsy. Not careless. Patient. Measuring.
I sat by the floor-to-ceiling window in the executive lounge, sunlight pooling across polished marble, coffee warm between my palms. Below me, the city moved like a diagram—precise, obedient.
"Miss," Rowan said from behind me, voice low, posture alert. "Should I do something?"
I didn't look away from the glass. "No need."
He waited. Rowan always did.
