After a while, Nadine knew she had to go to her father's office downstairs to tell him the updates. Lena entered her office to give her another bunch of work papers she needed. She gathered everything tightly between her hands and stood up.

She took a deep breath and went directly to the stairs to head to her father's office. Her feet were hurting her from wearing the heels Nadine hated them. She took her time going downstairs. She wanted to focus her feelings on the pain rather than on her overwhelming anxiety.

The clicking sound of her heels echoed in her ears like her heartbeat; unsteady, yet strong. Her eyes focused on her feet. The stairs seemed infinite. She looked up at the floor she was on. It was on the ninth floor. "What?!" she said.

She looked around, confused. She went down again, yet this time her eyes were right at the end of the stairs. Her eyes widened and her breath stopped for a long second. The number beside the door was nine. "What the hell?!" she said, whispering.

She couldn't believe her eyes. She put the papers she was holding on the last step of the stairs and closed her eyes tightly and inhaled a deep breath. "Don't freak out."

She grabbed the papers and went down yet again, her eyes were slightly closed and focused on her feet, when she reached the last step before the next floor door, she shut her eyes once and raised her head, slowly she opened her eyes and saw the number beside the door. "Nine!" she said and sneered. "someone must have changed all the numbers to nine."

She rolled her eyes and held the doorknob. Nadine took the elevator to get to her father's office faster. Anxiety was taking over her. She opened the door harshly and stepped inside in a fast irrevocably move.

The door opened to an empty hall. The floor was awfully quiet. Each floor in the building was identical, and all hall ends with the emergency stairs mostly crowded with photocopiers and employees. Nadine looked around as she walked down the long hall. It was empty, with everything looking unused, and the floor felt cold and abandoned.

The end of the hall ends with the beginning of the enormous floor that is mostly filled with numbers of desks occupied by busy employees, yet the one Nadine walked in was empty. No one else but Nadine. "Hello?" her voice echoed hard. "where is everyone?!"

Hefty footsteps pushing lightly at the ground. Coming from the hall behind her creeped into her ears, she tilted her head back. Her eyes wondered the empty hall, searching for the source of the sound. It was getting closer still nothing embodied it. It sounded like whatever was causing these sounds was taking long strides, aiming at her.

She felt her heart beating fast alongside the rhythm of the steps. Gusty breeze penetrated her body, roused all her senses. Her heart stopped for a brief second and her breath vaguely disappeared. The breeze profusely filling every inch of her as if someone walked right through her.

Nadine's breath pushed back into her lungs as the footsteps moved forward. "The key inherits to our women for a reason." An old female voice suddenly echoed in Nadine's ears, along with the hefty footsteps that sounded angrier. "That is what we get for having a frivolous son."

Other footsteps came from the end of the hall and went next to Nadine. Another female voice said, "Stop saying that, mother, he is your grandson. He had a reason for using the key."

The two separate footsteps were getting far from Nadine. She followed the sounds without hesitation. "A reason! He got living souls in there! Can't you see the mess we are in? They summoned us. The oracle won't let it go easily." the older voice said.

"Yes, mother, but he had a reason. He wouldn't risk us for anything." Nadine kept walking between the desks, following the two female voices. The older one said something, but Nadine didn't hear.

She stood in front of an office door. She could hear the two voices inside arguing loudly. The door was preventing any word from being heard clearly, yet they said one name loud and clear enough for her to hear. Her curiosity got to her. She grabbed the doorknob and roughly opened the door.

It felt like an electric shock hit her. The opened door frame revealed her father looking furious. "Don't you know how to knock first?" he said gravely. Everyone eyed her anxiously. Everything vanished from her brain at this moment. She bit her bottom lip roughly, feeling the improbable tension filled the room.

"My apologies" — she cleared her throat and looked at the papers between her hands — "I called our law department and we sorted everything out." She handed him the papers.

"How could you let those idiots put me in this situation!" he said furiously and threw the papers hardly at her. The papers hit her and fell on the ground, along with everyone almost gasping dramatically.

"I did everything right, and they got everything on time," Nadine said, defending herself. She looked at everyone except her father, who was sitting at his desk in the middle, surrounded by the head managers of every department. His office room was the biggest in the company. Divided into two parts — one part had his desk, and the other part was a big conference room — crowded with the managers who all shared the same anxious, almost fear reaction.

"I gave them the designs and the instructions correctly—" she looked at her father, her breath stuck in her lungs yet again, and time seemed to be frozen, everything and everyone in their places.

Behind her father's desk was a ceiling-to-floor glass wall showing the beautiful Mediterranean Sea in its full glory. On the other side, a group of golden strings suddenly flew into the air and slowly transformed into an angelic golden bird. Its eyes were almond in shape and its gaze was an incandescent blue fire astounded her to the core. Nadine blinked, and the bird disappeared. "—it's not my responsibility."

"You're the head of design and implementation; It is your responsibility!" he pointed his finger at her. Nadine looked at him and sighed; she knew she couldn't convince him it was not her fault. She looked back at the wall behind him; nothing but the glamorous sea view.

He kept blaming Nadine for everything that went wrong with the Sweden project and how she turned out to be a grand failure — Nadine felt a burning sensation in her chest, eating her heart. She wished for a moment she could stop everything. It was not her father's anger or what happened two days ago. It was something more, something she couldn't explain — finally he ended his long speech by telling her how irresponsible she was.

"I alr—" Her father waved his hand for her to get out when his phone ranged; it was the executive manager of the Sweden company on the other side. She felt embarrassed and her cheeks got shades darker than its natural pink shade; she eyed the other managers, who gave her apologetic looks.

Nadine left his office feeling oppressed; the floor crowded with employees who all looked at her like a lost puppy. She hated how her father treated her, yet she couldn't do anything about it. She jabbed at the elevator buttons, feeling all eyes stabbing her back. After she got to her floor, she strolled to her office and told Lena to arrange a meeting with the executive team of the project in half an hour.

She left Lena and went to the rooftop. She looked at the incredible view surrounded the company. A vast garden and on the other side of the street was the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. She reached the rooftop railing and took off her heels. The moment she put her hand on the railing, she cried and a flashback of the last couple of days popped in front of her eyes.