6- Under His Watch

The rain had stopped by the time Elena returned to the estate.

She was still smiling when she handed her coat to Eleanor. Dinner with Mina had been exactly what she needed: good food, familiar jokes, and two hours in which nobody had asked her to review a single document.

Then Eleanor mentioned that Mr. Vance was waiting in his study.

Elena’s smile disappeared.

“Did I do something wrong?”

“I wouldn’t know, Miss Hayes.”

That was hardly reassuring.

She checked the time. Nine twenty-three.

With a sigh, she walked down the corridor and knocked on the study door.

“Come in.”

Kaysen stood behind his desk, his jacket removed and his sleeves rolled to his forearms. He was reading a document, but when she entered, he put it aside.

His attention settled on her.

For a moment, Elena forgot the sarcastic remark she had prepared.

There was something about the way he looked at people that made it difficult to tell whether he was merely listening or already forming a judgment.

“You enjoyed your evening?”

The question caught her off guard.

“Yes.”

“Good.”

He picked up his glass of water.

Elena waited.

When nothing followed, she frowned.

“Was that why you asked me here?”

“No.”

“Then what was the reason?”

“You’re late.”

She stared at him.

“I didn’t realize I had a curfew.”

“You don’t.”

“Then—”

“Next time, tell Eleanor if you’ll be back after nine. She doesn’t need to wait up.”

His tone left little room for argument, although the request itself was perfectly reasonable.

Elena folded her arms.

“You could have told me that this morning.”

“I could have.”

He took another sip of water, apparently satisfied that the matter was settled.

She found herself staring at him.

“Do you always do that?”

“Do what?”

“Say something that sounds reasonable while making it impossible to tell whether you’re giving a suggestion or an order.”

His eyes returned to hers.

“When I give an order, Miss Hayes, you won’t have to guess.”

The quiet confidence in his voice made her lose her next retort.

Not because she agreed with him.

Because she believed him.

Kaysen set the glass down.

“Good night, Elena.”

Again, her name.

This time, she refused to let him see her surprise.

“Good night, Mr. Vance.”

She left the room with her head held high, determined not to think about the conversation.

But halfway up the stairs, she realized something that irritated her.

She had walked into his study ready for a fight.

He had barely raised his voice, barely explained himself, and somehow left her feeling as though he had been the one deciding how the conversation would end.

She didn’t like that.

Not at all.

The next morning, Elena arrived at the office to find the executive floor unusually quiet.

Two employees were speaking near the reception desk. Their conversation stopped when Kaysen emerged from his office.

He wasn’t wearing his jacket yet. His dark shirt fitted neatly across his shoulders, and his expression was as composed as ever.

“Move the meeting to eleven,” he told his assistant. “And send the revised figures to Sebastian before then.”

“Of course, Mr. Vance.”

He continued down the corridor.

People moved aside without being asked.

Elena noticed it because she was standing directly in his path.

She stepped aside a moment too late, and his shoulder came close enough that she caught the clean, understated scent of his cologne.

He stopped.

“Careful.”

One word.

She looked up.

“I’m standing perfectly still.”

“And yet, you nearly walked into me.”

“You came around the corner without warning.”

A faint, unreadable expression crossed his face.

“Would you prefer a formal announcement?”

She opened her mouth, then closed it.

He walked on.

Elena watched him disappear into the meeting room.

She was beginning to suspect that arguing with Kaysen Vance was a particularly irritating form of exercise. He rarely gave her the reaction she expected, and somehow she always ended up thinking about the exchange long after it was over.

She returned to her desk.

There were more important things to do.

At eleven, Elena entered the executive meeting room with her notebook.

Kaysen sat at the head of the table. Six people were present, including Sebastian Reed, the company lawyer.

A financial director was presenting the latest figures when Kaysen interrupted him.

“Go back three pages.”

The man did so.

“That payment,” Kaysen said. “Who approved it?”

The director glanced at the report.

“It was processed under the previous authorization.”

“That wasn’t my question.”

Silence.

The director swallowed.

“I’ll have to verify the name.”

“Then verify it.”

Kaysen turned to Sebastian.

“Before the end of the day.”

Sebastian nodded once.

The meeting continued.

Elena lowered her eyes to her notes, but her attention had shifted. Kaysen wasn’t angry. He wasn’t even particularly expressive.

Yet the financial director had stopped trying to defend himself.

When Kaysen asked a question, people answered it. When he made a decision, nobody wasted time asking whether he meant it.

Elena had worked with demanding managers before.

This was different.

Kaysen didn’t seem interested in making people afraid of him.

He simply had no patience for anyone who thought they could get away with lying.

The meeting ended twenty minutes later.

As the others began leaving, Elena collected the documents she had been asked to organize.

One page slipped from the folder.

She bent to retrieve it, but another hand reached it first.

Kaysen.

He glanced at the page, and something in his expression changed.

Only for an instant.

Then he placed it back inside the folder.

“These stay in my office.”

Elena looked at the document.

It was an old financial record, its edges worn and its print faded.

“Should I file it with the other reports?”

“No.”

His answer was immediate.

He took the folder from her and handed it to Sebastian.

“Keep this separate.”

Sebastian’s gaze flickered toward Elena before he nodded.

She noticed.

She also noticed that neither man offered an explanation.

For the first time, she wondered whether the strange payment she had found in the earlier report was connected to something much older.

But before she could ask, Kaysen turned toward her.

“Your notes.”

She handed them over.

He scanned the first page.

“Good work.”

Then he walked out with Sebastian.

Elena remained by the table.

She should have been pleased. He had praised her work without finding something to criticize.

Instead, she couldn’t stop thinking about the way his expression had changed when he saw that old record.

Whatever it contained, Kaysen didn’t want it in the wrong hands.

And for some reason, he had made sure she wouldn’t be the one carrying it.

That afternoon, Elena was reviewing the schedule when a message appeared on her computer.

Mr. Vance would like to see you.

She glanced toward his office.

He was standing beside his desk, speaking to a man she recognized from the morning meeting. The financial director looked tense.

Elena gathered her notes and went inside.

Kaysen glanced at her.

“Wait outside for a moment.”

She stopped.

She hadn’t expected that.

“Of course.”

She returned to the corridor, closing the door behind her.

A minute passed.

Then another.

She could hear voices through the wood, but not the words. The financial director sounded increasingly uneasy.

Finally, the door opened.

The man emerged carrying his briefcase. He looked at Elena, seemed about to say something, then thought better of it and walked away.

Kaysen stood in the doorway.

“Come in.”

Elena entered.

He gestured toward the chair opposite his desk.

She sat.

“Have you finished reviewing the documents for tomorrow?”

“Almost.”

“Finish them before you leave.”

She nodded, then glanced at the closed door.

“Was that about the payment?”

Kaysen’s expression remained unchanged.

“What payment?”

She stared at him.

“The one we discussed in the report.”

“I remember.”

He picked up a pen.

“Then you know I haven’t forgotten it.”

It was an answer, but not an explanation.

Elena studied him.

“Is it connected to my family?”

The pen stopped moving.

For the first time that afternoon, he looked directly at her.

The silence lasted only a few seconds, but something in it made her wish she hadn’t asked.

“Why would you think that?”

“Because the surname on the record was Hayes.”

Kaysen put the pen down.

“Don’t investigate something you don’t yet understand.”

Her irritation returned immediately.

“I found the discrepancy while doing my job.”

“I know.”

“Then why are you talking to me as though I’ve done something wrong?”

His gaze held hers.

“I’m not.”

He said it so calmly that she almost believed him.

Almost.

Kaysen leaned back in his chair.

“Finish your work, Miss Hayes.”

She rose.

At the door, she turned back.

“You’re very good at answering questions without actually answering them.”

“An observation worth keeping to yourself.”

She narrowed her eyes.

“Is that advice?”

His mouth curved slightly.

“No.”

She waited.

“It was a warning.”

For a moment, Elena couldn’t decide whether he was serious.

Then he returned to his paperwork.

She left with her frustration intact and an uncomfortable feeling that he knew far more about her family than he was willing to admit.

At six, Elena shut down her computer.

She had finished everything on her list and intended to leave before another task appeared.

As she reached the elevator, she heard hurried footsteps behind her.

“Miss Hayes.”

She turned.

Kaysen’s assistant approached, holding out a small envelope.

“Mr. Vance asked me to give you this.”

Elena accepted it.

Inside was a printed confirmation for a car service, booked for the following evening.

She frowned.

“What’s this?”

“He said you’ll need transportation for tomorrow’s company dinner.”

Elena looked up.

“I can arrange my own transportation.”

The assistant hesitated.

“I believe the booking has already been made.”

Of course it had.

Elena looked at the confirmation again. The car was scheduled to collect her from the estate and return her afterward.

There was no request for her approval. No question about whether she wanted to attend.

Just a neatly arranged plan with her name on it.

She walked back toward Kaysen’s office.

The door was open.

He stood by the window, speaking on the phone. When he saw her, he finished the call with a brief, “I’ll deal with it tomorrow,” and put the phone away.

Elena held up the envelope.

“You booked a car for me.”

“Yes.”

“Without asking.”

“I knew you’d be attending the dinner.”

“That wasn’t my point.”

He looked at her.

She had prepared an entire speech on the walk back. Somehow, standing in front of him, she found herself shortening it.

“I can arrange my own transportation, Mr. Vance.”

“I know.”

“Then why arrange it?”

He took the envelope from her, glanced at it, and returned it.

“Because the dinner will finish late.”

She waited for more.

Nothing came.

His gaze remained steady, leaving her uncertain whether he expected her to accept the explanation or simply stop asking.

“Fine,” she said. “But next time, ask me first.”

Kaysen studied her for a moment.

“Next time, I’ll consider it.”

She stared at him.

“That’s not the same as agreeing.”

“No.”

He said it without the slightest embarrassment.

Elena almost laughed in disbelief.

“You really are impossible.”

“I’ve been told.”

The familiar reply caught her off guard. It was the same dry humor she had heard before, but this time his eyes stayed on her a moment longer.

Not cold.

Not warm, either.

Just attentive in a way she couldn’t quite explain.

Then he turned back to the window.

“Good night, Miss Hayes.”

She left with the envelope in her hand.

She was annoyed that he had made arrangements without asking her. She was even more annoyed that he hadn’t tried to justify himself with a long argument.

He had simply made the decision, allowed her to object, and left her to decide what to do with it.

And beneath her irritation was a question she didn’t want to examine.

Why did he seem so certain that she would be there tomorrow?

Later that night, Kaysen stood alone in his study.

His phone lay on the desk beside a copy of the old financial record.

A message from Sebastian appeared.

Sebastian: I’ve confirmed the date. The original agreement disappeared six years ago. The missing payment was made three days before that.

Kaysen read the message twice.

Then another arrived.

Sebastian: There’s a reference to Elena’s mother in the archived correspondence.

Kaysen’s expression hardened.

He typed a brief reply.

Kaysen: Don’t contact her. Find the original agreement first.

He put the phone down.

For several seconds, he remained still, looking at the faded document.

He had known Elena’s surname would eventually bring questions.

He hadn’t expected her to be the one asking them.

Nor had he expected to find himself paying attention to details that had nothing to do with the agreement: when she left the office, whether she had eaten, whether she had made it home safely.

Those were unnecessary complications.

He had reasons for every decision he made.

He intended to keep it that way.

Yet when he reached for the document again, he paused at the sight of Elena’s name on the report.

Then he closed the file and locked it in the drawer.

Whatever had happened six years ago, she wasn’t ready to know.

And until he understood who had started looking into it again, he wasn’t going to let anyone else get close enough to hurt her.

Not even Elena herself.