The moment Lena noticed the second figure behind him, her stomach dropped.
HR.
Marianne Cole, head of Human Resources, stepped into the office with a tight, rehearsed smile that didn’t reach her eyes. She closed the door carefully behind her, as if sealing fate itself inside the room.
Corinne straightened in her chair. “Marianne… I wasn’t expecting—”
“I’m aware,” Marianne interrupted gently, then turned her attention to Lena. Her tone softened, but the words themselves carried weight. “Lena, please have a seat.”
Lena remained standing.
Something in the air told her this conversation had already been decided somewhere else.
Ben positioned himself near the wall, arms crossed, his earlier smugness carefully masked behind an expression of wounded dignity. But Lena saw it. The satisfacti
