PROFESSOR BLACK (ZED) POV
My tie felt like a noose.
I loosened it for the third time in ten minutes, exhaling slowly as my eyes scanned the mountain of documents suffocating my desk. Contracts. Authorizations. Agreements that required my signature, my approval, my attention.
But my mind wasn’t here.
It hadn’t been here all day.
The pen rested between my fingers, unmoving.
Numbers blurred, Words meant nothing.
I leaned back in my chair, rubbing a hand down my face. The office was silent except for the low hum of the air conditioning and the distant clicking of keyboards outside my glass walls.
Calm.
Controlled.
Everything exactly how I liked it.
Yet something inside me refused to settle.
My gaze flicked to my watch.
6:17 PM.
A faint crease formed between my brows.
I should ca
