Aria Voss had barely stepped back into her penthouse before her phone began vibrating nonstop. Notifications stacked against one another alerts from the board, updates from her legal team, three missed calls from Caleb, and a barrage of internal messages marked URGENT.
She dropped her bag onto the entryway table, her mind still lingering in the surreal quiet of the garden. The scent of its strange flowers seemed to cling to her clothes, as if refusing to be left behind. The memory of the whisper Welcome back echoed in her skull.
But here, in the sharp edged world of glass and steel, magic felt like something she had imagined on very little sleep.
Her phone buzzed again.
She forced herself to answer.
"Aria?!" Caleb's voice filled the line, crisp, anxious. "You need to get here. Now."
Aria strode toward the windows overlooking the city, its towers piercing a sky washed pale by morning haze. "I just walked through my door, Caleb. What happened?"
"A meeting." His tone flatlined. "Without you."
Her stomach dropped. "Which meeting?"
"The executive one," he said. "The one you scheduled for tomorrow morning."
"But I didn't"
"I know you didn't," he cut her off. "But the rest of the team moved it up. And they've been talking."
Aria pressed a hand to her forehead. The garden's colors violent, luminous still swirled beneath her eyelids when she blinked. She needed clarity. She needed to breathe.
"What exactly are they talking about?" she asked.
Caleb exhaled. "About leadership. About transparency. Some of them feel… shut out."
Shut out?
She was the one who'd been managing sleepless negotiations, back channel sabotage attempts, and Damien Cross's endless corporate warfare. Her executive team had the luxury of complaining about transparency while she was trying to keep the company alive.
"Who's leading this little mutiny?" she asked sharply.
A pause.
"Edward."
Aria froze.
Edward Lang. Her CFO. Her friend, or at least as close to one as she allowed within corporate walls. He had stood beside her through mergers, hostile takeovers, volatile markets. She had trusted him.
"He said what, exactly?" Aria asked, forcing her voice steady.
"That you've been distracted. That your sudden absence yesterday raised questions. That CrossTech is tightening their grip because they sense instability." Caleb hesitated. "And he wants the board to vote on forming an oversight committee."
Oversight committee.
Corporate-speak for: We don't trust the CEO anymore.
Aria's jaw clenched. "I'll be there in twenty minutes."
She hung up before he could say anything else.
The 42nd floor of Voss Dynamics buzzed like a disturbed hive. Employees whispered near the elevators. Assistants exchanged nervous glances. The tension rolled through the building like a pressure wave.
Aria stepped into the executive conference room without knocking.
The chatter stopped instantly.
Ten executives sat around the long glass table. Some looked guilty. Others looked defiant. Edward Lang sat at the far end, hands folded neatly, expression unreadable.
He rose politely when she entered. "Aria. We weren't expecting you so soon."
Aria took her seat at the head of the table, back straight, gaze cutting through the room. "Clearly. You've had quite the productive morning in my absence."
A few executives shifted uncomfortably.
Edward remained composed. "We're simply responsible for ensuring continuity. With CrossTech ramping up pressure and your sudden departure without explanation some of us were concerned."
Aria's eyes narrowed. "I sent a notice to the board. My grandmother's estate required my presence."
Edward tilted his head. "Of course. But it still left your team to navigate yesterday's investor backlash."
Aria fixed him with a cold stare. "Since when did you take it upon yourself to speak for the entire executive branch?"
Edward's lips curved almost imperceptibly. "Since several of them came to me with concerns."
Aria scanned the room. "Is that true? If any of you have concerns, now is the time to say them. Out loud."
Silence.
But silence didn't mean loyalty.
It meant fear.
Finally, Tessa Kim, Head of Operations, cleared her throat. "It's not that we doubt you, Aria. But things have been… off. Meetings shifted. Decisions made last minute. Investors getting nervous. Damien Cross releasing that press statement implying 'internal volatility.'"
Aria's pulse spiked. "Cross is playing you."
Edward spoke smoothly. "Or perhaps he recognizes cracks we've been ignoring."
A few executives murmured agreement.
Aria leaned forward, tone icy. "Let me be very clear. Damien Cross manipulates narratives. He plants rumors, buys silence, and stages leaks to destabilize us. And if any of you fall for it, you're playing directly into his hands."
A beat of tense silence.
Edward clasped his hands. "We only want transparency. Assurance that nothing is happening behind the scenes that could harm this company."
Her hand twitched toward her jacket pocket the place where the garden key now rested.
There was something happening behind the scenes.
Something impossible, inexplicable, potentially dangerous.
Something she couldn't explain even to herself.
But she couldn't tell them that.
Not yet.
She drew a slow breath. "I have been handling matters that don't belong on the public floor. But I assure you Voss Dynamics is stable."
Edward smiled thinly. "Then you won't mind an internal oversight committee. Temporary, of course. Until the market steadies."
Aria stiffened. "A committee would undermine my authority in the eyes of every investor."
Tessa nodded reluctantly. "It's not ideal, but it might reassure them."
"And invite CrossTech to push harder," Aria countered. "He'll see it as blood in the water."
Edward folded his arms. "Or he'll see it as good governance."
Her temper simmered. "We don't need governance. We need unity."
Edward's gaze sharpened. "Then earn it."
That struck deeper than she expected.
For a moment, Aria saw the room as her grandmother might have: a table full of power brokers, each one holding a dagger behind their polite smiles. Magic or no magic, some wars were fought in boardrooms.
She straightened, voice low but firm. "If anyone here believes I'm unfit to lead, say it to my face."
No one spoke.
Not even Edward.
He simply watched her calculating, patient, too calm for someone who had just challenged a CEO.
Aria rose. "This discussion is over. I want financials and investor communications on my desk by four. Caleb, you stay."
The others filed out slowly, whispers erupting the moment they passed the doors.
When the room finally emptied, Aria turned to Caleb. "How long has Edward been stirring them?"
Caleb's expression hardened. "At least a month. He's careful. Subtle. And people trust him."
Aria stiffened. "They shouldn't."
Caleb hesitated. "Aria… has anything been going on that we should know about?"
Her mind flashed to glowing petals, whispering air, water like silk.
She forced a steady breath. "Nothing that concerns the company."
Caleb nodded, but his eyes lingered. He didn't believe her. Not fully.
"Keep an eye on Edward," Aria said. "He's not done."
Caleb swallowed. "You think he wants your seat."
Aria's voice dropped to a cold whisper. "I think he's already moving toward it."
That night, as Aria sat in her office, staring at a stack of reports she barely processed, the city lights blurred beneath her. Her mind wasn't on the numbers. It wasn't on Edward.
It was on the garden.
On the way it sensed her.
On the way it wanted something.
She tapped the garden key against her desk, its metallic clink echoing through the empty room.
The corporate revolt was beginning.
But something told her that the garden…
…was only just waking up.