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The procurement freeze I lifted? Tidball.

The date with Grau?

Tidball.

I scroll.

Faster. Frantic.

There’s a pattern.

One I didn’t see.

Because he didn’t want me to.

Because he built it like a web and stood just far enough outside it to look like a friend.

I sit back down. Not on the floor this time. The desk chair welcomes me like I still belong here.

I don’t.

But I fake it anyway.

“Okay,” I whisper to the room. “If Tidball played me… then who didn’t?”

And that thought—that single thought—is what finally unravels me.

Because the answer is simple.

Grau.

I don’t hesitate.

I open the comm line.

I ping his ID. It shows active. For half a second.

Then it vanishes.

Unavailable.

Encrypted.

I try again.

Then a third time.

“Come on,” I whisper. “Come on, Grau. Just—just pick up. Say something. Curse at me. Growl. Anything.”

Nothing.

Only static.

The line won’t even let me leave a message. Like he scrubbed it. Like he’sgone.

And suddenly the silence feels heavier than the betrayal.

He was a monster. Dangerous. Unpredictable. Sharp in ways I didn’t understand and didn’t always want to.