The small courtesy struck her harder than anything else that morning. It was discipline layered on discipline, consideration expressed through distance, and it made leaving heavier than staying ever had. She exited the car without anotherword.
Her roommate, Rebecca, was waiting.
She stood just inside the living room, arms crossed, posture rigid in a way that had nothing to do with judgment and everything to do with fear. The look on her facetold Sera that whatever explanation she’d been rehearsing, it wasn’t going to be enough.
“You want to start with what just happened,” Rebecca said flatly, “or do you want to pretend I didn’t see whose car that was?”
Sera exhaled and dropped her handbag on the table by the door. “Alaric Severin drove me home.”
Rebecca shut her eyes briefly, then opened them again. “Jesus. That’s not just our boss.”
“I know,” Sera said. “It’s our boss’s boss. Or is it boss’s boss’s boss?”
Rebecca darted her a swift, hard look. “Alaric Severin is second in command at Severin’s. And that is a professional time bomb.”
“I’m well aware.”
Rebecca began to pace, sharp, restless steps cutting across the room. Then she stopped short and turned back. “Wait.” Her eyes narrowed. “Did you actually have sex?”
“Yes,” Sera said immediately, refusing to soften it. “Of course we had sex.”
Rebecca closed her eyes and dragged in a breath through her nose, as if steadying herself. When she spoke again, her voice was tighter. “Okay. Then this isn’t about bad judgment or a momentary lapse.” She gesturedsharply. “This is about power. Access. Optics. You work too close to Severin for this to ever be harmless.”
“I know,” Sera repeated.
Rebecca stopped short and looked at her. “You don’t regret him.”
“No,” she admitted quietly. “I regret the timing. And what it could cost.”
“That’s worse,” Rebecca muttered, dragging a hand down her face. “Because that means this wasn’t impulse. It means it mattered.”
Sera didn’t argue. She didn’t need to.”It was one night,” she said. “No buildup anyone could have noticed. No messages. No trail.”
“That helps,” Rebecca muttered, pacing. “But it doesn’t erase the power imbalance.”
“Jesus, Bec. Iknow all that.”
Her roommate stopped and looked at her hard. “You realize that if anyone thinks you’re compromised, they won’t come after him. They’ll come after you.”
The words landed with brutal clarity. Sera nodded calmly. “Trust me. I’m well aware, which is why I broke it off.”
Rebecca tilted her head to one side. “You don’tregret him, do you?”
“No,” Sera said quietly. “I regret that I wanted him this much.”
Rebecca exhaled slowly, fear replacing anger. “That’s what scares me.”
“It scares me, too.” She shook her head. “Give me thirty minutes to shower and change. Wait for me?”
By the time they left for work together, both women were quiet, braced, and painfully aware that something fundamental had shifted.The car ride felt longer than usual, every red light another moment to think too much. Sera stared out the window, rehearsing neutrality, professionalism, distance. She wouldn’t flinch. She wouldn’t look like a woman nursing regret or longing.
She would look like herself.
When they reached the building, Rebecca glanced at her once. “Be careful,” shesaid.
Sera nodded. “I always am.”
“Well, except for last night.”
