Chapter 4:The kind of Trouble You Can't Un-Known

Zoe's POV

Zoe waited until Sophie's parents came to pick her up at nine.

Once they left, the penthouse became quiet again.

Only then did Zoe finally allow herself to breathe properly.

Her room was small.

Honestly, it was even smaller than some of the guest bathrooms.

But it was hers.

The door locked.

And right now, that lock felt like the only thing keeping her safe from whatever was going on.

She sat on her bed with her legs crossed.

Her old laptop rested on her knees.

The flash drive was plugged into it.

On the screen, the cursor blinked over a folder called B_Files.

“Okay,” she whispered to the empty room.

“Okay. It's probably nothing.”

She took a deep breath.

“Just some boring security files. Camera schedules. Access records. You're just being paranoid.”

She clicked the folder anyway.

The first file was a spreadsheet.

It was full of information and words she didn't fully understand.

There were elevator override codes.

Emergency lockdown steps.

Penthouse exit points.

Zoe's stomach tightened as she kept scrolling.

This wasn't normal security work.

It looked like a map.

A very clear and detailed map showing exactly how someone could get into Julian Blackwood's home.

Or worse, how someone could trap him inside.

Zoe's hands became cold.

She opened the second file.

What she saw made her even more nervous.

It was a list of messages between Marcus Webb and someone saved only as R.R.

The messages were about Julian.

R.R.: Board vote moves up if he's out of the picture before Q3. You said you had access.

Marcus: I have access. The timing has to be right. It can't look rushed.

R.R.: He trusts you. That's your advantage. Don't waste it.

Zoe stared at the screen, She read the messages once, Then again, Then a third time.

She still couldn't believe what she was seeing.

Her heart was beating hard in her chest.

Then she heard a knock.

She almost didn't notice it.

Another knock came.

This one was louder.

“Zoe?”

It was Elena.

“Are you in there? You didn't come down for the shift change…”

Zoe quickly shut the laptop.

She closed it so hard that the hinge cracked.

She grabbed the flash drive and pushed it under her mattress.

Then she opened the door.

She forced a smile onto her face.

“Sorry. I lost track of time.”

Elena looked at her carefully.

Her eyes moved over Zoe's face.

“You look like you saw a ghost.”

“Long day.”

Zoe forced out a small laugh.

It sounded weak.

“Blackwood and his towels. You know how it is.”

Elena didn't look convinced.

But she didn't ask any more questions.

Instead, she started talking about a problem with a delivery as they walked down the hall.

Zoe nodded when she was supposed to.

She smiled when she was supposed to.

But she barely heard what Elena was saying.

Her mind was somewhere else.

Two things kept repeating in her head, Before Q3.

Before he's out of the picture.

Zoe thought about Julian.

Earlier that afternoon, he had stood in the sitting room doorway and watched her read to Sophie.

There had been something different in his eyes.

Something softer, Almost human.

But the moment he remembered who he was, that softness disappeared.

He had become cold again.

Zoe thought about how much she truly disliked him.

She really did.

But then she thought about what she had just read.

She suddenly understood something.

Disliking someone and wanting them dead were two very different things.

And there was one thought that kept coming back to her.

I have to tell him.

She had to tell the man who thought folding his towels the wrong way was a serious problem that someone he trusted was planning to kill him.

Zoe almost laughed at how crazy the situation was.

But the sound that came out was closer to a cry.

She quickly swallowed it.

Then she turned toward the linen closet before Elena could notice.

That night, Zoe didn't sleep.

She lay on her small bed and stared at the ceiling.

The flash drive was still under her mattress.

It felt like it was burning a hole through it.

She kept thinking about the conversation she would have with Julian.

How would she tell him?

What would he say?

How would he look at her?

And most importantly, would he believe her?

She went over the conversation in her head again and again.

By four in the morning, she had her answer.

He wouldn't believe her.

Why would he?

She was only the housekeeper.

The woman who couldn't even fold his towels the way he wanted.

The woman he barely noticed unless something was wrong.

If she walked into his study tomorrow and told him that his head of security was planning to have him killed, what would happen?

She could lose her job immediately.

Or worse.

Marcus could somehow find out that she knew.

Zoe needed proof, Real proof.

Something nobody could argue against.

Something that would make even a calm and controlled man like Julian Blackwood stop and listen to her.

And that meant one thing.

She needed to get into Marcus's office.

Zoe closed her eyes.

Her heart was still beating hard.

She knew exactly how dangerous that idea was.

Getting into Marcus's office was a terrible idea.

Maybe even a crazy one.

But she had already made up her mind.

Some stubborn part of her had been there since she was a child.

Years of moving through foster homes had taught her many things.

One of them was that she could never simply walk away when someone was in danger.

Not even when that person was a man who had never once thanked her.

She was going to find proof.

She just didn't know one important thing yet.

Marcus already suspected that his flash drive was missing.

And three doors down the hall, Marcus stood quietly in the darkness.

He was checking every camera in the building.

He wanted to know exactly who had taken it.