The Sovereign executive floor was quieter after the meeting.
Not calm.
Just subdued in a different way.
People worked, but more carefully now.
Conversations were shorter.
Screens were checked more often than usual.
Even the usual rhythm of the floor felt slightly off—like everyone had agreed, silently, not to say what they were thinking.
Sebastian Wolfe didn't look well.
And worse than that—
Sebastian Wolfe had looked unsteady.
Lillian stayed at her desk longer than she needed to.
Her screen was open, but untouched.
The same report had been sitting there for nearly ten minutes without a single change.
Across from her, Chloe quietly closed a file.
"You haven't moved in a while," she said gently.
"I'm working."
Chloe raised an eyebrow slightly.
"That's not working."
Lillian exhaled slowly through her nose.
Her gaze drifted—again—to Sebastian's office.
Still dark.
Still empty.
It felt wrong in a way she couldn't stop noticing anymore.
Not just emotionally.
Structurally.
Like something fundamental about the building had shifted.
"I didn't think he'd actually… show up like that," Lillian said quietly.
Chloe didn't ask what she meant.
She already knew.
"He shouldn't have been on that call," Chloe said.
Lillian's fingers tightened slightly around her pen.
"No."
A pause.
Then softer:
"He was drinking."
Chloe didn't deny it.
That silence was answer enough.
Lillian leaned back slightly in her chair, eyes still fixed on the glass office.
"I've only seen him like that once before."
Chloe looked at her carefully.
"When?"
Lillian hesitated.
Then shook her head slightly.
"Never mind."
Because saying it out loud made it feel worse.
The rest of the afternoon passed slowly.
Too slowly.
Every time Lillian tried to focus, her mind drifted back to the same image.
Sebastian on screen.
Paler than usual.
Eyes unfocused for a second too long.
Not fully there.
It wasn't just the alcohol.
It was everything underneath it.
Something in her chest twisted every time she thought about it.
She had expected distance.
Silence.
Even anger, maybe.
But not this.
Not collapse.
By the time evening approached, Lillian had barely touched her work.
Chloe noticed, but didn't comment again.
She only said quietly:
"You're allowed to care about him, you know."
Lillian didn't respond immediately.
Then, barely above a whisper:
"I never stopped."
That was the problem.
At the same time, across the city, Sebastian sat in the mansion in near silence.
The lights in his office were on.
But dim.
Unnecessary brightness filling a space he wasn't really occupying anymore.
His laptop was open.
Unread emails stacked again.
He had tried working earlier.
It hadn't lasted long.
Now he was just sitting.
Still.
The glass beside him was untouched this time.
Not because he didn't want it.
Because he was too aware of what it did to his thoughts.
And right now, his thoughts were already unstable enough.
His gaze drifted to his phone.
It had been sitting there all day.
Silent.
Unresponsive.
Empty.
Which shouldn't have meant anything.
But it did.
Because she always replied.
Even when she was busy.
Even when she was annoyed with him.
Even when she was tired.
There was always something.
Now there was nothing.
Sebastian reached for the phone.
Paused.
Then set it back down again.
A controlled motion.
Too controlled.
His jaw tightened slightly.
Then relaxed.
Then tightened again.
His mind kept circling the same thought, over and over, like it couldn't find a way out of it.
She saw me like that.
Not as CEO.
Not as control.
Not as stability.
Just… unsteady.
Unfocused.
Human in a way he didn't allow himself to be publicly.
That part mattered more than he wanted it to.
Because vulnerability, in his world, always meant one thing.
Failure.
His grip tightened slightly on the edge of the desk.
"I shouldn't have gone," he muttered quietly.
But even that didn't feel fully accurate.
Because the truth underneath was worse.
He had gone because he couldn't stay away from the system he was still responsible for.
And now—
he couldn't stay inside it either.
A sharp notification suddenly lit up his phone.
Sebastian's attention snapped immediately.
Then stopped.
It wasn't her.
Meeting reminder.
He stared at it for a long moment before turning it off.
No movement.
No response.
Just silence again.
And then—
the thought came again.
Not loud.
Not dramatic.
Just persistent.
She hasn't said anything.
He should have been relieved.
No arguments.
No confrontation.
No escalation.
But instead—
it felt like something suspended.
Like waiting for impact that hadn't arrived yet.
Back at Chloe's apartment, Lillian was standing by the kitchen counter when her phone lit up.
She didn't notice it immediately.
Then she did.
Her hand paused mid-movement.
Slowly, she picked it up.
The screen showed no new message.
No missed call.
Just an active contact.
Sebastian Wolfe.
She stared at it for a moment longer than she should have.
Her thumb hovered slightly above the screen.
Chloe noticed from the sofa.
"Is it him?" she asked quietly.
Lillian didn't answer immediately.
Her throat felt tight in a way she didn't like.
Because suddenly she wasn't sure what she wanted.
To hear him.
Or not hear him.
She lowered the phone slightly.
"I don't know what I would even say," she admitted softly.
Chloe didn't move closer this time.
Just said gently:
"You don't have to decide right now."
Lillian nodded faintly.
But didn't put the phone down.
For a few seconds, she just stood there.
Still.
Caught between action and hesitation.
Then finally—
she placed the phone face down on the counter.
As if that solved something.
It didn't.
It just delayed it.
Back at the mansion, Sebastian sat in silence for a long time.
Then finally reached for his phone again.
He opened the message thread.
Stared at it.
The typing indicator appeared for a moment.
Then disappeared.
He didn't send anything.
He just set the phone down again.
And in both places—across the city, in two separate rooms that used to feel like shared space—nothing was said.
But everything was still there.
Unfinished.
Unspoken.
Waiting.