Gavin remained standing in front of Giselle’s desk.
“Am I being fired?”
“No.”
Her answer came so calmly that it almost made him more nervous.
Giselle opened the folder in front of her.
Gavin immediately recognized the first photograph.
It was his employee ID picture.
Then he saw another photograph.
His daughter.
Paisley.
His stomach tightened.
“Why do you have my daughter’s picture?”
Giselle didn’t answer right away.
Instead, she closed the folder.
“I had my security team investigate you.”
Gavin’s expression hardened.
“You had no right to do that.”
“I know.”
The bluntness of her answer caught him completely off guard.
She didn’t try to justify herself.
She didn’t pretend it was normal.
“I also know you have every reason to be angry with me.”
“I don’t hate you.”
Giselle studied him for a moment.
“Then you’re smarter than most people who work for me.”
Gavin didn’t know what to say.
Giselle slowly stood from behind her desk.
For the first time, he noticed how carefully she moved.
There was a stiffness in her posture that the expensive suit couldn’t hide.
She wasn’t fine.
Not even close.
She walked toward the enormous window overlooking Mapleton.
“Last night,” she said quietly, “you saw something I’ve spent six months hiding.”
“The accident?”
Giselle nodded.
“The accident wasn’t what the public was told.”
Gavin’s expression changed.
“What do you mean?”
“There was another vehicle.”
“What kind?”
“A black SUV.”
She turned toward him.
“It crossed the center line on a road outside the city. My driver swerved to avoid it, and we hit the barrier.”
Gavin remembered the news reports.
Everyone had been told that heavy rain had caused the crash.
There had been no mention of another vehicle.
“Why didn’t you tell anyone?”
“Because the SUV disappeared.”
Gavin frowned.
“Disappeared?”
“There were no license plates. And the cameras covering that section of road stopped recording for eleven minutes.”
A cold feeling moved through Gavin’s chest.
“Are you saying someone tried to hurt you?”
“I don’t know.”
“You don’t know?”
“No.”
She walked back toward her desk.
“But someone has worked very hard to make sure I stop asking that question.”
Gavin looked at her carefully.
Then he remembered what he’d seen the previous night.
The bruises.
The brace.
The scar.
The fear in her eyes.
“Why are you telling me all this?”
“Because you saw something else.”
“I didn’t.”
“You saw the brace.”
“Yes.”
“You saw the bruises.”
Gavin hesitated.
“Yes.”
“And you saw the scar underneath my left shoulder.”
Gavin looked at her.
“Do you know what caused it?”
“No.”
“It wasn’t caused by the accident.”
Gavin’s expression became serious.
“Then what caused it?”
Giselle’s face hardened.
“That is exactly the problem.”
She opened another folder.
This one contained photographs, medical records, a police report, handwritten notes, and one photograph that immediately caught Gavin’s attention.
A damaged black SUV.
He leaned closer.
“That vehicle?”
“Yes.”
“Where was it found?”
Giselle stared at him.
“It wasn’t.”
She pushed the photograph across the desk.
“This picture was taken three days after my accident.”
Gavin studied the image.
The front of the SUV was badly damaged.
Something had struck it with considerable force.
“Where was this?”
Giselle took a breath.
“In the private garage beneath my father’s estate.”
Gavin slowly looked up.
Her father had founded Harrington Group.
His name was practically synonymous with wealth and power in Mapleton.
Gavin’s voice dropped.
“Are you saying someone in your family had that vehicle?”
“I’m saying someone in my family had access to it.”
Gavin felt his pulse quicken.
“And you think someone in your family tried to kill you?”
“I think someone wanted me frightened enough to stop asking questions.”
“About what?”
Giselle didn’t answer.
Instead, she reached for another folder.
It was much thinner than the others.
She placed it directly in front of Gavin.
“This is why you’re here.”
Gavin stared at it.
“What is it?”
“A contract.”
He looked at her.
“I don’t understand.”
“You will.”
Giselle sat down again.
“But first, I need you to answer one question.”
“Okay.”
“Do you trust me?”
Gavin almost laughed.
“Ma’am, last night I accidentally walked into your office and found you wearing a medical brace you apparently aren’t supposed to have.”
Giselle said nothing.
“This morning you’ve shown me evidence that somebody may have tried to hurt you, and now you’re asking whether I trust you?”
He shook his head.
“I don’t even know what I’m supposed to think.”
“That wasn’t my question.”
Gavin looked directly at her.
“No.”
For the first time, Giselle smiled.
Not because she was amused.
She looked relieved.
“Good.”
She opened the contract.
“There are people in this building who would tell you anything if it helped them gain your trust.”
She pushed one page toward him.
Gavin looked down.
His eyes widened.
“Eighty-five thousand dollars?”
“Correct.”
“What is this?”
“An advance.”
“For what?”
“A job.”
Gavin stared at her.
“I already have a job.”
“Not anymore.”
His expression tightened.
“You just said I wasn’t being fired.”
“You aren’t.”
“Then what is this?”
Giselle leaned forward.
“I want you to become my personal driver.”
Gavin blinked.
“You want me to drive you?”
“Yes.”
“I don’t know anything about executive security.”
“I don’t need a security specialist.”
“Then why me?”
“Because you notice things.”
Gavin shook his head.
“I’m a janitor.”
“You were a soldier.”
He froze.
Giselle continued.
“You served eight years.”
Gavin stared at her.
“You investigated me.”
“Yes.”
“You know about my knee?”
“Yes.”
“You know about my daughter?”
“Yes.”
His voice became colder.
“You know about my debts?”
“Yes.”
Gavin pushed himself to his feet.
“That isn’t a job offer.”
Giselle remained still.
“That’s leverage.”
“I know what it looks like.”
“You looked through my entire life.”
“I did.”
“You found my weakest point.”
“Yes.”
“And now you’re offering me money because you know I need it.”
Something changed in Giselle’s expression.
For the first time, Gavin saw something that looked almost like regret.
“I am offering you money because I know what it feels like to have no choices.”
Gavin didn’t answer.
She continued.
“Your daughter’s asthma medication has become more expensive. Your insurance only covers part of it. Your landlord has already sent you two notices.”
Gavin’s hands curled into fists.
“Stop.”
“I know.”
“Stop talking about my daughter.”
Giselle immediately went silent.
The room became completely quiet.
Then she spoke again, much more softly.
“I have a daughter too.”
Gavin looked at her.
Her eyes moved toward a photograph sitting facedown near the corner of her desk.
Giselle picked it up and turned it over.
It showed a little girl with dark curls standing beside a lake.
“She died when she was six.”
Gavin’s anger disappeared.
“What happened?”
Giselle looked at the photograph.
“My brother was supposed to be watching her.”
Her voice trembled slightly.
“He wasn’t.”
Gavin didn’t know what to say.
She placed the photograph back on the desk.
“That happened twelve years ago.”
She looked at Gavin.
“I learned something after that.”
“What?”
“When powerful people make mistakes, they call them unfortunate circumstances.”
She paused.
“When ordinary people make mistakes, they call them crimes.”
Gavin slowly sat back down.
Giselle opened the contract again.
“I need someone outside my family’s circle.”
“Why?”
“Because I don’t know who I can trust.”
Gavin looked once more at the number on the contract.
Eighty-five thousand dollars.
That money could change Paisley’s life.
It could pay the medical expenses that had been keeping him awake at night.
It could catch up the rent.
It could give his daughter the security he had been struggling to provide.
But Gavin also knew there was no such thing as free money.
“What exactly am I supposed to do?”
“Drive me.”
“That’s it?”
“For the first week.”
“And after that?”
“If everything goes according to plan, you’ll continue working for me.”
“And if it doesn’t?”
Giselle turned toward the window.
“Then you take the money and disappear.”
Gavin frowned.
“What does that mean?”
“It means you leave Mapleton.”
“Why?”
“Because whoever is behind this won’t stop with me.”
Gavin stared at her.
“You think they’ll come after me?”
“I think they already know you saw me last night.”
The room suddenly felt much colder.
Gavin looked toward the closed office door.
“How?”
Giselle reached underneath the folder and pulled out a small black envelope.
“This was delivered to my apartment at 3:17 this morning.”
She slid it across the desk.
Gavin hesitated.
Then he opened it.
Inside was a photograph.
His breath caught.
It was him.
Standing outside his apartment building.
The picture had clearly been taken from across the street.
Another photograph showed him carrying Paisley from Mrs. Gable’s house.
A third showed Paisley walking into school.
Gavin’s entire body became rigid.
“Who took these?”
“I don’t know.”
He looked at Giselle.
“You said they already knew about me.”
“Yes.”
“Then why am I still alive?”
Giselle’s expression became grim.
“Because whoever took those photographs wants you to understand that they could have done something.”
Gavin stared at the pictures.
His hands began to shake.
“Why?”
Giselle leaned closer.
“Because they’re sending me a message.”
“What message?”
Her voice dropped almost to a whisper.
“They’re telling me that you’re the next person they can take away.”
Gavin pushed the photographs back across the desk.
“No.”
“You can’t walk away now.”
“I can quit.”
“They’ll still know what you saw.”
“I didn’t see anything!”
“You saw me.”
“That doesn’t mean anything.”
“To them, it does.”
Gavin stood.
“I need to go home.”
Giselle nodded.
“You can.”
He looked surprised.
“But I’m sending a car.”
“No.”
“You’re not going alone.”
“I’ve been taking care of my daughter alone for years.”
Giselle looked directly at him.
“I know.”
Gavin stopped.
Something in her voice made him turn around.
It wasn’t the voice of an executive giving an order.
It wasn’t manipulation.
It was fear.
Real fear.
“You really think someone is watching my daughter?”
“I think someone is watching everyone around me.”
Gavin looked down at the contract.
Then he looked at the photograph of Paisley.
Then at Giselle.
“How much of this is actually about me?”
Giselle didn’t answer.
And that silence told him more than words could.
Slowly, Gavin picked up the contract.
“Where do I sign?”
Giselle’s eyes narrowed.
“You haven’t read it.”
“I’ll read it.”
“Good.”
“And I’m not agreeing to anything that puts my daughter in danger.”
“I wouldn’t ask you to.”
Gavin looked at her.
“That is exactly what you’re asking.”
Giselle didn’t deny it.
Gavin picked up the pen.
But before he could put it on the paper, every light in the office suddenly went out.
Both of them froze.
The emergency lights flickered on.
A low alarm began sounding somewhere down the hallway.
Gavin immediately stood.
His military instincts returned before he could even think about it.
“Stay here.”
Giselle looked at him.
“What?”
“Stay behind the desk.”
He moved toward the door.
“Gavin.”
He raised one hand.
“Quiet.”
The hallway outside was almost completely dark.
Only the emergency lights remained, casting a strange red glow across the corridor.
Then Gavin heard something.
Footsteps.
Slow.
Measured.
Coming toward the office.
One.
Two.
Three.
His hand moved toward the door handle.
Behind him, Giselle whispered:
“Don’t.”
The footsteps stopped.
Gavin froze.
A shadow appeared underneath the door.
Someone was standing directly outside.
Neither of them moved.
Then something slid across the floor.
A folded piece of paper.
Gavin looked at Giselle.
For several seconds, neither touched it.
Finally, Gavin crouched down and picked it up.
He unfolded the paper.
There were only six words written across it.
YOU SHOULD HAVE FIRED THE JANITOR.
Gavin felt the blood drain from his face.
Giselle went completely pale.
Neither of them spoke.
Then, without warning, the lights came back on.
Gavin immediately looked through the small glass panel in the door.
The hallway was empty.
There was no one there.
Whoever had left the message was gone.
But something else was wrong.
Giselle’s security system was still flashing.
Gavin looked at the monitoring screen.
Every security camera on the fiftieth floor had been disabled.
Every single one.
Except one.
He stared at the screen.
His voice became barely more than a whisper.
“Giselle…”
She turned toward him.
“What?”
He pointed at the monitor.
“The camera inside your office.”
Giselle’s face changed.
Because the one camera that was still working wasn’t pointed at the hallway.
It wasn’t pointed at the elevator.
It wasn’t pointed at the entrance.
It was pointed directly at them.
Someone had deliberately left that camera running.
Someone wanted to watch Gavin and Giselle.
And as the red recording light continued blinking, Gavin realized something far worse.
Whoever was behind the threats hadn’t merely discovered that he had entered Giselle’s office.
They had been watching him long before that night.
The contract was still lying open on the desk.
The $85,000 was still waiting.
And Gavin suddenly understood that accepting Giselle’s offer might not simply change his daughter’s life.
It might put both of their lives in danger.
