The elevator ride down felt longer than it should have.
Alice stood in the corner with her back against the mirrored wall, watching the numbers descend with a focus that was almost violent. She could see her own reflection in the glass, the professional composure she had spent years perfecting, the hair that was still in place, the makeup that had not smudged. She looked like a woman who was in control. The deception was almost funny.
When the doors opened on the ground floor, she stepped out into the lobby and walked toward the exit without looking at the security guard behind the desk. She did not trust herself to make small talk. She did not trust herself to speak at all without revealing something she had spent the last hour trying to contain.
