Chapter 3 Shadow and Spark

By Friday, Elara felt like she had aged a year.

Her first week at Kingston & Vale had been a brutal gauntlet of sixteen-hour days, impossible expectations, and a level of scrutiny that could turn steel to sand. She kept her head down, finished her work with surgical precision, and asked just enough questions to seem curious but not needy.

Her performance had drawn attention-but not all of it welcome.

Some of the junior associates gave her side-eyes and half-smiles. The whispers started small, but she heard them nonetheless.

"She's already in Callahan's meetings?"

"Must be nice to be the new golden girl."

It didn't help that Aidan had asked her to revise two valuation models that weren't even in her department. Or that he'd dropped by her desk twice this week, seemingly casual but always purposeful, his eyes flicking across her screen, always three steps ahead.

It made her nervous-and restless.

It also made her curious.

That Friday evening, the office had mostly cleared out. The usual exodus to happy hour left the floor eerily quiet, just the low hum of machines and the tap of Elara's keys.

She stayed behind-partly to finish a pitch deck, partly to clear her head.

And maybe, if she was honest, to delay going home to her shoebox apartment and the leftover noodles waiting in her fridge.

The elevator chimed.

Elara didn't turn around. She was deep into a company profile when a shadow fell across her desk.

"You don't believe in Fridays?" came that familiar voice-low, smooth, unmistakable.

She glanced up to see Aidan Callahan standing there, jacket off, sleeves rolled, his shirt unbuttoned just enough at the collar to seem dangerously relaxed.

"I was under the impression this place didn't believe in weekends," she replied.

He gave a half-smile. "Touché."

She closed her laptop slightly and leaned back in her chair. "I could ask you the same."

He shrugged. "Some work is easier to do when it's quiet."

"Or when no one's watching?"

His lips curved a little more. "You think I care who's watching?"

"I think you make sure they are."

For a moment, there was a charged silence. Not hostile, but layered with something unspoken.

Then he stepped closer, setting a file gently on her desk. "I wanted to say-your research on the Micronis acquisition? It was sharp. You flagged two issues legal missed."

Elara blinked. "You're... complimenting me?"

"I'm giving credit where it's due," he said. "And I don't do that often."

She smiled, just slightly. "I'll try not to let it go to my head."

"You should," he said quietly. "You've earned it."

The words weren't dramatic, but they carried weight-because Aidan Callahan didn't praise. He didn't coddle. And yet, here he was, breaking his own rule.

The air between them shifted.

He looked at her, not with the polite distance of a superior, but like he was seeing her-not just as a colleague, or a subordinate, but something else. Something more complicated.

Then-just like that-he stepped back.

"Don't let this place take everything from you," he said.

Elara raised an eyebrow. "What makes you think it hasn't already?"

He studied her. "Because you're still curious. And that's rare around here."

She opened her laptop again, heart pounding for reasons she didn't dare name. "You should go before someone starts another rumor."

He hesitated, then gave a knowing smile. "Too late."

And with that, he walked away.

Elara watched the elevator doors close behind him. The quiet returned, but the silence was different now-warmer, heavier, alive.

She didn't know what game was being played between them-or if it was even a game at all.

All she knew was that whatever spark had been lit... it wasn't going out anytime soon.