LOGINBy the third week, the exits slowed.That, more than the resignations themselves, began to weigh on everyone.Those who had wanted to leave were gone. Those who could not adapt had already found reasons to step aside. What remained was a group of people who had chosen to stay, not because it was comfortable, but because it was possible.Staying, it turned out, was harder than leaving.The building felt fuller now. Not louder. Fuller. Conversations carried weight. Decisions took longer. People double checked themselves before speaking, not out of fear, but because words now carried consequence.Nathaniel noticed it in the smallest interactions.A manager who once would have nodded and complied now
Elena did not remember sitting down.One moment she was standing in Beatrice’s private study, the photograph still burning behind her eyes, the next she was in the low-backed chair near the window, her hands folded t







