Chapter 22

'I can't turn back now' Melisa thought as she stepped into the elevator with Edmund. He pressed the button for the highest floor—the executive level, where Leo's office was located.

As the elevator came to a smooth halt, Edmund stepped out first, and Melisa followed. The atmosphere here was vastly different from the floors below. Downstairs, hushed whispers and murmured conversations had softened the cold professionalism of the building, but here, an imposing silence reigned. Every employee moved with precision, their footsteps barely making a sound, as if any disruption would shatter the rigid decorum.

Melisa's grip on the lunchbox tightened, the cool metal pressing against her palm. Somehow, the sensation grounded her, a small anchor against the unease swirling inside her.

Edmund knocked twice on the imposing double doors at the end of the hall, the sound crisp and firm against the heavy silence of the corridor.