Chapter 6:Thirty Seconds

Zoe's POV

Marcus's fingers were still resting on the folder.

Zoe watched them through the small gap under the desk panel. She was close enough to see the faint scar across his knuckles. For some strange reason, her mind suddenly became very clear.

This is how it ends.

Hiding under a desk at six in the morning because I couldn't mind my own business.

"That's not how I left that," he said again.

This time, his voice was quieter, almost as if he were talking to himself.

A phone buzzed somewhere above her.

Marcus's hand moved away from the folder.

"Yeah," he said, and his voice immediately became smooth and professional. "No, I'm in the office now. Give me two minutes. I'll check the access logs myself."

Zoe heard his footsteps.

They slowly moved away.

Then the door clicked shut behind him.

His voice became quieter as he walked down the hallway.

Still, Zoe didn't move.

She didn't trust her legs. She didn't trust the sudden silence around her.

She stayed there and counted to sixty in her head.

Then she counted to sixty again.

Only after that did she finally move.

She quickly crawled out from under the desk. Her hands were shaking badly. She pushed the drawer shut with her hip and hurried toward the door.

She was already moving down the hallway before her mind had fully caught up with what her body was doing.

She didn't run.

Running would look suspicious.

Running would make her look exactly like someone who had just been somewhere she wasn't supposed to be.

So she walked quickly, keeping her back straight.

She passed the elevator and entered the stairwell.

The moment the door closed behind her, she finally allowed herself to stop.

She leaned against the cold concrete wall and took a deep breath.

Her hands were still shaking so badly that she pressed them against her stomach, hoping they would stop.

He knows.

He knew someone had been in that office.

He didn't know it was her.

Not yet.

But it was only a matter of time.

Marcus was careful. Very careful.

He would check who had access to that floor at six in the morning. He would look at the security records. He would find out who had been there.

And Zoe was almost sure it wouldn't take him long to find the answer.

She pushed herself away from the wall and continued upstairs.

By the time she reached her room, her heart was still beating fast.

She locked the door behind her and sat on the edge of her bed.

Her phone rested in her lap.

She stared at Julian Blackwood's contact information.

Her finger hovered over his name.

Tell him now.

But another thought came immediately.

He won't believe you.

She swallowed.

Tell him anyway.

She stared at the screen for several seconds.

What was she supposed to say?

Julian, I went into the security office this morning and found something strange.

No.

That sounded terrible.

Maybe:

Julian, I think someone is planning something against Marcus.

She shook her head.

That sounded even worse.

She dropped the phone onto the bed and covered her face with both hands.

There was no way this conversation was going to go well.

Julian would probably think she was imagining things.

Or worse, he would ask why she had been in that office in the first place.

And she couldn't exactly tell him that she had been sneaking around because she was curious.

She picked up her phone again.

Maybe she should just tell him everything.

Maybe he would understand.

But before she could make the call, she heard movement outside her room.

She quickly put the phone away.

A few minutes later, she was on her way upstairs with Julian's coffee.

Her hands were still not completely steady.

The tray shook slightly as she walked, making the cup rattle against the saucer.

She took a deep breath and tried to calm herself.

By then, she had already imagined the conversation with Julian at least a dozen different ways.

In every version, she told him what she had discovered.

And in every version, the conversation ended the same way.

Julian stared at her like she had completely lost her mind.

She was right.