The rest of the morning passed in uneasy quiet.
Damian sat at the long desk in the glass conference room, staring at a corporate research file that Kendrick had assigned him.
Or rather, pretending to read it.
The screen displayed pages of financial analysis about one of Walker Corporation's tech subsidiaries.
Numbers.
Graphs.
Market projections.
Forecast models.
Normally Damian would have found it interesting. He had always been curious about how companies worked, how decisions were made behind closed doors, how numbers shaped entire industries.
Today, he could not focus on a single word.
His thoughts kept drifting back to the same problem.
The bond.
Every time Kendrick walked past the glass walls of the room, Damian felt it.
A faint warmth.
A quiet pull that tugged gently at his chest.
It was not overwhelming.
Not painful.
But it was persistent.
Like a heartbeat he could not quite ignore.
Damian leaned back in his chair and sighed.
"This is ridiculous."
