Chapter 2: The Man Who Doesn’t Look at Her

The next morning, when Audrey came down the stairs, a man she had never seen before was already standing in the entrance hall.

Men came and went through the Sterling residence all the time because of the family’s business. Bankers, lawyers, politicians, investors. Audrey was accustomed to men in tailored suits and expensive watches who wanted everyone in the room to understand who they were before they even opened their mouths.

This man was different.

His suit was charcoal, nearly black. White shirt. Dark tie. Nothing about him seemed designed to attract attention. Even his height—six-foot-two at least—and the breadth of his shoulders did not create the kind of presence that demanded a room make space for him.

Audrey understood why almost immediately.

He was not standing there to be seen.

His gaze kept moving.

The front door. The staircase to the second floor. The windows to the east. The hallway beyond the foyer. The French doors opening toward the garden. Even when he looked at someone, Audrey had the strange impression that he was also watching whatever stood behind them.

“Audrey.”

At her father’s voice, she descended the last few steps.

Richard Sterling stood near the fireplace with the family’s head of security. Neither man looked as though he had slept much.

“This is Nathan Mercer,” Richard said. “He’ll be handling your protection starting today.”

The stranger turned toward her.

Gray-blue eyes. Calm face. A trace of stubble along his jaw.

Audrey knew she looked worse than usual after a nearly sleepless night, but she had still expected some polite remark from a man being introduced to her for the first time.

“Nathan Mercer.”

That was all he said.

She lifted one eyebrow as she accepted his hand.

“Audrey Sterling. Though I assume you already knew that.”

“Yes.”

He released her hand and looked back at Richard.

“I want the west service gate taken out of use today. Two cameras cover it, but the same tree blocks part of both fields of view. If someone approaches from the road behind the property, your response window is too short.”

Audrey blinked.

Her father did not.

“I was told you arrived thirty minutes ago.”

“Thirty minutes is enough to inspect the perimeter. The guard at the main entrance also wasn’t briefed on last night’s incident. I understand limiting information, but there’s no point asking someone to watch for a threat if he doesn’t know what kind of threat he’s supposed to recognize.”

His voice was low and even. He did not sound accusatory. He simply identified weaknesses and placed them on the table.

Richard asked if there was anything else.

There was.

Nathan went through the staff entrance, the route connecting the garage to the house, the blind spots created by the hedges, and the number of employees with access to Audrey’s schedule. He did it without drama, without pretending the house was defenseless, and without offering assurances he could not guarantee.

When he finished, Audrey folded her arms.

“I had no idea we lived in such a dangerously designed house.”

Nathan finally looked at her.

“It’s a secure house.”

“After that list, I’m not sure I believe you.”

“Secure and impossible to penetrate are two different things. If you tried to make a residence this size completely inaccessible, the people living here wouldn’t be able to live normally. The objective is to detect anything unusual early enough to stop it before it reaches you.”

He paused only briefly.

“Last night, something in that system failed. I’m going to find out what.”

For a moment, Audrey had no answer.

Her father would have said that was precisely why she was in danger. A security director would have promised that nothing like it would happen again.

Nathan Mercer offered neither fear nor empty reassurance.

“So from now on, you’re going to follow me around all day?”

“When necessary.”

“That’s conveniently vague.”

“I’ll usually be farther away than you expect. When there’s a threat, I’ll be closer than you want.”

He said it without a hint of humor.

Audrey studied him for another second, then told him she had a board meeting at ten, followed by a foundation meeting and lunch downtown. None of it was being canceled.

“I have today’s schedule,” Nathan said. “I wasn’t going to ask you to cancel it.”

That surprised her enough to silence her.

“If I lock you inside this house,” he continued, “I give whoever did this the power to change your life. I’m not here to help them do that.”

For the first time that morning, Audrey looked directly at him.

“However, if you intend to keep your schedule, I need certain things from you. I choose the travel routes. If you change your departure time, you tell me first. The same applies if you decide to go somewhere that isn’t on the schedule. I don’t decide who you meet, but I need to know who they are, where they’re coming from, and who they’re bringing with them.”

“My father gave you that authority, I assume.”

“He did.”

“I haven’t.”

Richard shifted as if he meant to intervene, but Nathan answered before he could.

“Then I’m asking you to.”

There was no force in his tone and no attempt to charm her.

“Ms. Sterling, I wasn’t hired to manage your life. I’m here so you can keep living it. To do that, I need you to trust me with the parts that keep you safe.”

The photograph from the night before surfaced in Audrey’s mind.

The red circle over her chest.

The closed curtains.

The room she had believed was empty.

Fear, she had discovered, did not disappear simply because the sun came up.

“All right,” she said at last. “But I make the final decisions about my work. You don’t cancel my life because there might be a risk.”

Nathan considered that for several seconds.

“I’ll explain the level of risk as clearly as I can. Unless there’s an immediate threat, the final decision stays with you.”

“And if there is?”

“I won’t ask your permission.”

The answer came without hesitation.

The corner of Audrey’s mouth moved despite herself.

“So that’s when you become unreasonable.”

“Permission isn’t much use after you’ve been shot.”

He did not smile.

Audrey was beginning to suspect Nathan Mercer rarely said anything he did not mean.