Chapter 25: The StandHe expected her to crumble. He expected tears, or silence, or for her to simply disappear from his orbit, nursing a wound he’d inflicted with surgical precision.He did not expect the knock on his office door an hour later. He certainly did not expect Elara Archer to walk in, her back straight, her eyes not filled with tears, but with a fire that could melt steel.She closed the door softly behind her. The click of the latch was more final than any slam.“You’re a liar,” she stated, her voice calm and clear, cutting through the oppressive silence.Leo,