Chapter 161

• VALENTINA
• The elevator doors closed with a soft ding and I leaned against the wall, coffee cup warm in my hand. The ride up felt longer than usual. My mind kept circling back to that anonymous email—Adrian’s words staring back at me like a slap. He was using me. Feeding details to someone who wanted to hurt Gustavo. And the jealousy from yesterday still sat heavy in my chest, mixed with the memory of Gustavo’s eyes on me at the summit. I told myself the worry I felt for him wasn’t love. It was just survival. I was stuck in this world now. If he went down, I could too. That was all.
• I stepped off on our floor. The office smelled like fresh coffee and printer ink. I dropped into my chair, set the cup down, and opened the first file. Numbers. Graphs. Safe things. But my eyes kept drifting to his door. Closed. Quiet.