The pocket watch changed the shape of the week.
Ashford Tower remained outwardly efficient, with legal teams processing contract revisions, Helios expansion committees moving through new sovereign agreements, and the board enjoying the quiet confidence that came after several months of strategic wins. On the surface, nothing appeared unstable.
But inside the private spaces Seraphina occupied, the old wound Adrian reopened refused to settle.
The silver watch now remained locked in a biometric evidence drawer in the strategy office, yet its weight still seemed present in her hands. She could still see the impossible engraving every time she closed her eyes.
You were eight minutes late.
