The silence thickened until the room felt almost devoid of oxygen. His dark eyes remained fixed on her, drilling deep into her shifting expressions, deliberately granting a calculated stretch of silence for the hysteria to recede and allow reason to return.
"Have you calmed down now? Miss Fortunata?"
The quiet, gravelly baritone sliced through the air. The shift in his cadence was subtle yet lethal, sending an unwritten warning that the window for panic had closed. The parameters of their conversation had just entered a drastically critical register.
"To save time," a visibly exhausted voice countered, refusing to reveal just how vulnerable she truly was. "You can audit the current media logs. Specifically, the data circulating regarding Elena Laurent."
A single, detached nod was his only response.
"Read it. You'll understand exactly why I'm terrified, without requiring me to articulate the details."
"There is no necessity. I am already entirely aware of what you fear."
