Chapter 7: The Whisper NetworkThe rumor arrived not with a bang, but with a sly, sidelong glance from Sarah in accounting.“Great work on the Chimera brief, you two,” she’d said, her smile a little too knowing. “Must be nice, having such… dedicated collaboration sessions after hours.”It was the emphasis on dedicated that sent a cold trickle down Elara’s spine. By lunch, the trickle had become a flood. She saw it in the hushed conversations that died when she entered the breakroom, in the way Mark from marketing gave her a thumbs-up that felt more like a leer. The office gossip