Chapter 125 - CHAPTER 125 – THE GLIMPSE OF FORGIVENESS

Peter's question remained suspended in the air long after the words left his mouth. The operations floor behind them continued moving in controlled silence, screens updating and indicators shifting, but the space around them felt strangely separated from everything else. Caro stood beside her console with one hand still resting near the recovery panel she had forgotten to close. For a moment she did not answer. Not because she lacked an answer, but because she had too many. Somewhere between the rival's attacks, the company's instability, and Peter's growing suspicion, she had stopped being able to separate what she was protecting. Blackridge mattered. The system mattered. But somewhere in all of that, Peter had quietly become part of every decision she made, and admitting that now would only make everything worse.