CHAPTER 45: THE MAN I REFUSE TO HIDE BEHIND

Amelia stared at the altered project document on her laptop, her fingers resting on the edge of the desk. The name attached to the file belonged to someone in Alexander's executive team. One phone call from him could probably bring the entire matter to a halt. He could demand answers, suspend access and make sure no one touched her project again.

But that would create another problem.

People were already questioning whether she deserved her position. If Alexander stepped in now, they would have even more reason to believe she needed his power to protect her.

She closed the document and opened the company's official reporting portal.

She attached her original proposal, the altered version, the email trail and the file properties. Then she submitted a formal complaint requesting an independent review of the document history.

Before clicking the final button, she read the report once more.

She was not accusing anyone. She was reporting what she could prove.

Then she submitted it.

A confirmation appeared on the screen.

Amelia leaned back, breathing slowly. It was a small step, but it was hers.

That evening, Alexander arrived at her apartment. He looked serious, his dark coat still buttoned as he stepped inside.

"Have you found out anything else?" he asked.

"I've reported the document through the company's official process."

He removed his coat. "Good. I was going to ask Jonathan to look into it."

"Please don't make any sudden decisions."

Alexander turned towards her.

"The account belongs to someone on my executive team. I need to know why."

"I agree. But we don't know whether that person changed the file. Someone could have used their credentials."

"I can have the executive questioned."

"Not yet."

His expression tightened. "Amelia, someone is deliberately putting your professional reputation at risk."

"I know. But if you question someone before we have the evidence, they could deny everything, destroy records or claim you're protecting me. I want the truth, not another argument about your influence."

He watched her quietly.

There had been a time when he would have made the decision without asking. He would have called his security director, ordered an investigation and expected everyone to follow his instructions. He was still tempted to do exactly that.

But Amelia wasn't asking him to ignore the problem. She was asking him to trust her judgment.

"All right," he said at last. "No sudden decisions. I'll make sure the relevant records are preserved, but I won't interfere with your review."

"Thank you."

He moved closer, stopping beside the sofa.

"You're making this very difficult for a man who is used to solving problems."

A small smile appeared on her face.

"Maybe you need practice."

"Apparently."

She laughed softly, and some of the tension left his shoulders. He sat beside her, leaving enough space between them for her to choose whether to close it.

For a moment, neither spoke.

Then Alexander looked at her.

"Can I ask you something?"

"Of course."

"Do you ever regret letting me back into your life?"

The question caught her off guard. She studied his face, seeing the uncertainty he rarely allowed anyone to notice.

She could have given him an easy answer. She could have told him everything was fine, that she trusted him completely. But that would not have been honest.

"No," she said. "I don't regret giving you another chance."

His shoulders relaxed slightly.

"But I'm still afraid."

"Of me?"

"Sometimes. Not because I think you'll deliberately hurt me, but because I remember how easily I lost myself when everything happened before. I worked hard to rebuild my confidence, Alexander. I found my own work, started making decisions for myself and learned that I didn't need someone powerful standing beside me to feel important."

He listened without interrupting.

"I don't want to lose that again," she continued. "I don't want people looking at me and seeing only your girlfriend. I want them to see Amelia Carter, the designer who worked for her opportunities."

Alexander reached for her hand.

"I don't want you to become smaller to make room for me."

She looked down at their joined hands.

"I want to stand beside you, not behind you," she said.

"Then that's where you'll stand."

There was no grand declaration in his voice. No promise that he could control what other people thought or prevent every difficult thing from happening. He simply held her hand and let her words remain between them.

Amelia leaned against his shoulder.

For once, she did not feel that accepting his comfort meant giving up her independence.

The following morning, she attended the independent review meeting at Blackwood International. Two external consultants and three company representatives sat around a smaller conference table. Daniel Foster was also present, looking more uncomfortable than usual.

Amelia connected her laptop to the screen.

"I'd like to begin by clarifying that the document currently circulating under my name is not the proposal I submitted."

She displayed the original version.

"This is the design approved for evaluation. It includes the original budget, material specifications and layout. The additional requirements in the revised document were never discussed with me, and I did not authorise them."

One of the external reviewers, a woman named Helen Price, examined the pages.

"Have you identified when the changes were made?"

"The file properties show a modification under an executive-level account. However, I cannot confirm who used that account."

Helen nodded.

"That's an important distinction."

Amelia displayed the two versions side by side, highlighting the changes. She explained how the imported stone would increase the cost, how the altered lighting system would affect the electrical plan and how the new layout would compromise the original design's functionality.

She did not sound angry. She did not mention her relationship with Alexander. She let the documents speak.

When she finished, Helen closed her notebook.

"We'll examine the file history and compare it with the original submission records. No decision will be made about responsibility until that review is complete."

"Thank you," Amelia replied.

Daniel Foster cleared his throat.

"We'll cooperate fully with the investigation."

Amelia looked at him. "I hope so. I want the project evaluated fairly, whatever the outcome."

The meeting ended without a final decision, but Amelia left feeling that she had done everything she could.

She had defended her work without using Alexander's name once.

Meanwhile, Alexander was in his office when Jonathan Reed entered carrying a confidential report.

"We've got an update on the altered document," Jonathan said.

Alexander looked up.

"The account?"

"It was accessed from a location outside the main office. The login credentials belong to a member of your executive team, but the access came through an external network."

"Could the employee have logged in remotely?"

"Possibly. But the location doesn't match the employee's usual access pattern. We're checking whether the credentials were compromised."

Alexander studied the report.

"Has the employee been informed?"

"Not yet. We wanted to establish the facts first."

"Good. Preserve the access logs, the original document and every version created afterward. Don't confront anyone until we know more."

Jonathan nodded.

"There's another detail. The external access occurred shortly before the altered document was circulated."

Alexander's eyes narrowed.

"Then someone knew exactly what they were doing."

"That's what it looks like."

Alexander closed the report. He thought of Amelia sitting in that review meeting, defending work she had spent weeks creating. Whoever had done this had not simply changed a document. They had deliberately placed her in a position where she could be blamed for decisions she never made.

He would not allow that to happen.

But this time, he would not take control away from her.

That evening, Amelia returned to her apartment carrying her handbag and a small folder of project notes. The hallway was quiet. She noticed a plain brown envelope lying directly in front of her door.

There was no stamp, no address and no name.

She looked down the hallway. Nobody was there.

Her first instinct was to call Alexander, but she stopped herself. She took a photograph of the envelope before picking it up, then unlocked her door and stepped inside.

After checking that the apartment was empty, she placed the envelope on the kitchen table and carefully opened it.

Inside was a photocopy of an old Blackwood International document. The paper had yellowed around the edges, and several lines had been marked in black ink. It appeared to be part of an internal report from fifteen years earlier.

Amelia began reading.

The document referred to an internal investigation, restricted company records and an employee whose departure had supposedly been voluntary.

At the bottom, someone had written a message by hand:

The woman in the photograph did not leave Blackwood voluntarily.

Amelia's heartbeat quickened.

She looked at the photocopied report again. A name appeared beneath the handwritten note, written in the same dark ink.

She knew that name.

She had seen it in Alexander's library, in old photographs and in the documents connected to her father's past.

Her fingers tightened around the paper.

"Evelyn."

And suddenly, Amelia understood that the person changing her project documents might not be the only one trying to reach her.

Someone was bringing the past directly to her door.