The room was designed to intimidate.Glass walls. White light. Too many important people pretending not to stare. The kind of place where power didn’t need to announce itself it simply waited for you to bend.Elara felt it the moment she stepped inside.Every pause in conversation.Every sideways glance.Every carefully neutral expression that said we already decided who you are before you arrived.Adrian walked beside her, not a step ahead, not behind. Present but deliberately not leading.This wasn’t his moment.It was hers.At the far end of the room, Ethan stood near the long table, perfectly composed, speaking softly to a cluster of