Compliance processed it. “Thank you. That thought has been logged under ‘Risk Mitigation – Emotional Volatility.’”

The next morning, a new email arrived. Subject: She deleted it, grabbed a coffee without logging the pour, and went to find Leo.

At 5:29 PM, one minute before the ISO-mandated “End-of-Day Emotional Reset,” the door opened. It wasn’t Greg. It wasn’t security.

For twelve minutes, twenty-three people sat in silence, nodding in perfect, synchronized misery. The only sound was the crinkle of someone’s smuggled granola bar wrapper, which triggered a noise-violation alert on the room’s smart sensor.