The tension at the firm reached a breaking point by Thursday afternoon. The Partners were snapping at anyone who moved too slowly, and the rumor mill was churning out theories about a hostile takeover.
Tiana was carrying a heavy crate of ledgers toward the elevator when the doors slid open, and the air in the hallway seemed to drop ten degrees.
Amir Lahman stepped out.
He was dressed pristinely. He was wearing a charcoal suit that looked like it had been carved onto his frame, his dark hair swept back with lethal precision. He was flanked by two auditors, but his eyes weren't on the clipboards they held.
He saw Tiana.
She froze, the heavy crate digging into her hip. She expected the dismissive wave from the parking garage or the cold indifference of the "Golden Boy." But as Amir walked toward her, his stride slowed. His brow furrowed, a flicker of that strange, shadowed confusion crossing his face again.
"Ms. Longman," he said. His voice was a low vibration that seemed to rattle the very bones of the building.
"Mr. Lahman," she replied, her voice steadier than she felt. "I didn't realize the landlord conducted his own audits personally."
"I find that if you want to know the truth of a thing, you have to look at the foundation," Amir said.
He stepped closer, ignoring the auditors who were waiting for him. He looked down at the crate in her arms, then at her face.
"You're working late?"
"The workload is... immense," she said, her heart hammering against her ribs.
Amir reached out, his hand hovering near the edge of the crate as if he intended to help her carry it, then he stopped. He pulled his hand back, his fingers curling into a fist. The look on his face was one of a man struggling to read a language he used to speak fluently.
"Ensure the Thorne files are prioritized," he said, his tone suddenly snapping back to a cold, professional edge.
"My father is... interested in the results of this audit."
He walked past her without another word, but the scent of his cologne, that woody, familiar spice, stayed behind, wrapping around her like a shroud.
___________
A few days later, the "Deep Dive" was still ongoing, but Sunday offered a brief respite. Tiana and Chloe who had become practical besties decided to take their dogs to the local park, a small, patchy green space that sat between their two apartment buildings.
Maya was thrilled to have a playmate in Chloe's energetic beagle, Buster. As the dogs tumbled over each other in the grass, Tiana and Chloe sat on a checkered blanket, sharing a container of grocery-store sushi.
"He was watching you, you know," Chloe said suddenly, popping a piece of California roll into her mouth.
"Who?" Tiana asked, though she knew exactly who.
"The Ice King. Mr. Lahman," Chloe said. "I saw him from the filing room window yesterday. He was standing on the sidewalk across the street, just... looking up at our floor. He stayed there for twenty minutes."
Tiana looked at her hands. "Is that what you call him?, Tiana laughed drily . "He's just worried about his investment, Chloe. The firm is in trouble."
"Maybe," Chloe shrugged. "But a man like that doesn't stand in the rain for an investment. He stands in the rain for a person."
Tiana wanted to argue, but she couldn't. She thought about the way Amir had looked at her in the hallway the way his "Rogue" side seemed to be fighting the "Polished" mask he wore for the world.
She looked around the humble park the peeling paint on the benches, the elderly men playing chess, the sound of Maya's happy barks. This was her world. It was affordable, it was a bit broken, but it was honest.
Across the city, Amir was likely sitting in a room where every chair cost more than her car. But for the first time, Tiana wondered if he was as lonely in his palace as she had felt before she met Chloe. Not to disregard Reigna, but she lived more than 5000 kilometers away and barely had enough time to be gallivanting with her bestie. And Dad. Dad was slowly becoming a shadow of himself at the Adults Center.
"Let's not talk about him," Tiana said, leaning back against the grass and looking up at the sky.
"Let's just enjoy the fact that for today, nobody is scolding us, and the ledgers are far away."
Chloe laughed and leaned back beside her. "Deal. But if he shows up here in a three-piece suit to 'audit' our picnic, I'm letting Buster jump on him."
They sat in silence, two friends bound by a week of corporate warfare and a neighborhood that felt like home. The mystery of the Lahmans and the Longmans was still there, lurking in the shadows of the skyscrapers, but under the Sunday sun, it felt like something that could wait for Monday.