Chapter 4: A Safe Place

Just before the SUV entered the underground parking garage beneath Sterling Group headquarters, it slowed.

To Audrey, the security checkpoint looked completely ordinary.

Nathan did not seem to see it that way.

His attention moved from the guard beside the gate to the surveillance cameras overhead, then to a delivery van stopped farther ahead and the shadowed section beside the ramp leading down to the second basement level.

Every few seconds, something else became the focus of his attention.

A brief voice came through his earpiece. Nathan answered once.

That was enough.

Instead of stopping in the usual executive parking area, the SUV continued deeper into the garage.

“We’re using this entrance today?”

Nathan kept his eyes forward.

“Too many people have access to the executive elevators. Until we understand what happened last night, I don’t want your entry route becoming predictable.”

The vehicle stopped near a service elevator Audrey rarely used.

One of the security officers who had arrived ahead of them checked the immediate area. Nathan stepped out first. By the time Audrey left the SUV, his eyes had already covered the short corridor leading to the elevator and the door beyond it.

Yesterday, she might have called it excessive.

After remembering the photograph left on the table in her dressing room, the objection never made it past her throat.

Once inside headquarters, Nathan became even less noticeable.

He exited elevators before she did. In hallways, he walked several steps behind her. When employees stopped to greet Audrey, he shifted naturally out of the way. Whenever someone approached, he looked at them once and moved on.

He never interrupted her conversations.

By the time they reached the executive floor, Audrey had noticed something strange.

Nathan was always there.

Yet if she stopped thinking about him, she could almost forget he was.

She had expected being protected to feel much more suffocating.

“Good morning, Ms. Sterling.”

An executive assistant waiting outside the boardroom opened the door.

Audrey walked inside without slowing.

At ten o’clock, the board meeting began as scheduled.

The main item on the agenda was Sterling Group’s massive redevelopment project in Lower Manhattan.

The multibillion-dollar plan combined a luxury hotel, commercial space, offices, and residential towers. Ashford Global was deeply involved in both the financing and investment structure.

Updated projections appeared on the screen.

When the chief financial officer finished his presentation, one of the older directors closed his folder with a satisfied expression.

“With numbers like these, I see no reason the final agreement can’t be signed before the end of the year. Ashford has already indicated they’re prepared to move forward on schedule.”

Audrey looked up from the report.

“I’m not approving it yet.”

The atmosphere in the room shifted.

The director frowned.

“Is there a problem?”

“Not with the investment amount. With the guarantees. In Ashford’s latest proposal, more of the downside risk has been shifted onto us. The default provision in Section Seven was changed as well. It isn’t the same language we reviewed last month.”

Several people began turning pages.

Audrey did not need to look down.

“On the surface, the numbers are attractive. But if the project underperforms, Sterling’s obligation to provide additional capital is too high. There’s also no explanation for why those terms changed.”

The CFO checked the relevant pages, his expression tightening.

“You’re right. They were amended.”

“I want a revised submission from Ashford. Before we sign anything, I also want additional documentation on the funds connected to this project over the last three years. I want to know whether there’s any issue with their actual capacity to finance their share.”

“Audrey.”

Her father’s voice was low.

There was no warning in it.

Only an invitation to continue.

“This project matters to both families,” she said. “That isn’t a reason to lower our standards. Whether I trust Julian personally and whether Sterling can trust Ashford Global’s numbers are two different questions.”

No one answered immediately.

Eventually, the CFO agreed to the additional review and the meeting moved on.

At the back of the room, Nathan remained against the wall without saying a word.

While Audrey spoke, he had not been watching the projections or the financial reports.

He had been watching the doors and windows.

The meeting ended shortly after eleven thirty.

As the directors filed out, Audrey closed her tablet and handed several documents to Claire.

“Send the request to Ashford under my name. I want the last three years of fund records. Not a summary. The underlying documents.”

“Got it. Are you going to tell Julian?”

“I’ll speak to him before the formal request goes out. Better that he hears it from me than assumes something else is going on.”

Claire nodded and left.

A moment later, Nathan stepped into the boardroom.

“We’re moving.”

Audrey glanced at the time.

“My next meeting is on this floor. The room is twenty yards away.”

“I know.”

“And you still need to escort me?”

“Twenty yards doesn’t make a place safe.”

Apparently nothing had changed.

Audrey gathered her papers and stepped into the hallway with him.

They had gone only a few steps when Nathan stopped.

It was not dramatic.

Only his eyes changed.

“What is it?”

He did not answer immediately.

Farther down the corridor, a member of the cleaning staff pushed a cart. Several employees emerged from another conference room and headed toward the elevators.

Nathan was not watching them.

He was looking at a small bouquet placed against the wall.

White roses.

Nothing unusual for the executive floor.

Except for where they had been left.

Directly beside the conference room Audrey was about to enter.

“Don’t touch it.”

Nathan’s voice had gone lower.

Audrey stopped.

He shifted slightly, placing himself between her and the flowers without making the movement seem deliberate.

“Find out who delivered those.”

The nearby security officer moved immediately.

Nathan kept watching the corridor.

Within minutes, reception records were checked.

The delivery company had been logged.

The sender had not.

There was no card.

No explosive device. No toxin.

Just white roses.

Nathan still did not allow Audrey anywhere near them until security removed the bouquet.

“Do you think this has something to do with last night?”

“I don’t know yet.”

“You’re suspicious of flowers now?”

Nathan kept his eyes on the corridor.

“Right now, I’m suspicious of how many people know your schedule.”

Some of the color left Audrey’s face.

The decision to use this conference room had been made only that morning.

Very few people should have known.

Nathan appeared to be thinking the same thing.

“You think whoever’s doing this might not just be watching from outside?”

“It’s a possibility.”

He did not confirm it.

He did not dismiss it either.

The photograph left in her dressing room the night before.

A schedule changed only hours ago.

And a nameless bouquet waiting beside the place she was expected to be.

Sterling Group headquarters had always felt almost as familiar to Audrey as her own home.

Everyone here knew her.

For the first time, that fact did not feel reassuring.

Nathan checked the door to the next conference room.

“Let’s go.”

Audrey looked for another moment at the empty place where the roses had been.

Then she started walking.

This time, she found herself looking at the faces of the people passing her in the hallway.