Chapter 5   The Blinking Light

 The phone rang while I was still staring at the photo of the handshake.

David’s name lit up the screen. I answered on the second ring.

“Jennifer?” His voice was tight.

“What’s wrong?”

“Two guys just stopped me outside work. They offered cash. A lot of it. They wanted to know where you are.”

My grip on the phone tightened. “What did you tell them?”

“Nothing. I said I didn’t know and walked away. They followed me for half a block. I ducked into the subway and called you.”

“Are you safe right now?”

“I’m on a train. I think I lost them. Who the hell are they?”

“I don’t know yet. Stay on the train. Go somewhere public. Don’t go home.”

“Jennifer, what is going on?”

“I’ll explain later. Just keep moving. Call me when you’re somewhere bright.”

“You’re not telling me everything.”

“I can’t right now. Please just do what I said.”

I hung up and left the guest suite. Kane was in the main room reviewing something on a tablet. He looked up when I walked in.

“Your security team is watching my brother,” I said.

He set the tablet down. “Yes.”

“Two men just offered him money for my location. He refused. He’s scared.”

“They were not mine.”

“You just said your team is watching him.”

“My team observes. They do not approach. They do not offer cash.”

I stepped closer. “How long have they been watching him?”

“Three weeks.”

“Three weeks. Before I even moved in here.”

“Yes.”

“You had people following my nineteen-year-old brother while I was still in that medical suite.”

“I had people making sure no one else reached him first.”

My voice rose. “You don’t get to decide that.”

“I do. He is a clear point of leverage. Anyone who wants access to you will go through him.”

“So you put a target on him by watching him.”

“I reduced the chance that someone else would succeed.”

I laughed once, short and ugly. “You talk like this is normal.”

“In my world it is.”

“Your world destroyed my father’s company and now it’s circling my brother.”

Kane’s expression stayed steady. “Your father’s company was already failing. The takeover accelerated the inevitable.”

“Don’t rewrite it.”

“I am stating facts.”

“You knew my full background before the contract was ever offered. You knew about David. You knew about the debts. You knew everything.”

“Yes.”

“And you still chose me.”

“The genetic match left no other option.”

I pointed at him. “You researched me like I was a product.”

“I researched the only viable candidate. Your family history, medical records, current vulnerabilities. All of it was necessary.”

“Necessary for you.”

“Necessary for the bloodline.”

I turned away and then turned back. “Call off the watch on David. Now.”

“No.”

“I’m not asking.”

“And I am not negotiating. He stays under observation until the risk drops.”

“The risk is you.”

Kane’s voice stayed level. “The risk is every rival who now knows a Kane heir is coming. They will look for weak points. Your brother is one.”

I stared at him. My hands were clenched so hard the nails bit into my palms.

“You’re using him to keep me in line.”

“I am protecting an asset that matters to you so you do not do something reckless.”

“Don’t call him an asset.”

“That is what he is in this equation.”

“He’s my brother. He’s nineteen. He works nights so we can eat. He doesn’t deserve any of this.”

“Neither did you. Yet here we are.”

I walked to the elevator. The security man there did not move.

“Open it,” I said.

Kane spoke from behind me. “You are not leaving the floor.”

I faced him again. “Then keep your people away from David. If anything happens to him I will find a way to burn this entire arrangement in public.”

“You will not. The legal structure prevents it. And you care too much about him to risk the fallout.”

I hated that he was right. I hated the calm way he said it.

“You planned this from the start,” I said. “The contract. The anonymity. The research. All of it.”

“Yes.”

“And you still looked me in the eye in that tower and acted like the truth was a surprise.”

“I never claimed it was a surprise. I claimed the contract was irreversible. Both statements were true.”

I shook my head. “You don’t get to sound reasonable while you control my brother.”

“I control the variables that threaten the pregnancy. Your brother is one of them.”

I walked past him and back to the guest suite. I locked the door. The click sounded final but I knew it was not. I sat on the edge of the bed and called David again.

“I’m somewhere bright,” he said. “A twenty-four-hour place. You okay?”

“I’m fine. Stay there a while. Don’t go home tonight.”

“Jennifer, who were those guys?”

“I don’t know yet. Just trust me and stay public.”

“You’re scaring me.”

“I know. I’m sorry. I’ll call again soon.”

“Are you really okay?”

“I’m handling it. Eat something. Stay where people can see you.”

I hung up and set the phone down. The room felt too quiet. I stood and walked the perimeter the way I had started doing every night. Windows. Closet. Bathroom. Desk.

In the far corner near the ceiling a small red light blinked once.

I froze.

It blinked again.

I stepped closer. The light was tiny, almost hidden against the dark casing of what looked like a smoke detector. It was not a smoke detector.

I stared at the blinking light until my vision blurred. Someone was watching the room I had locked myself inside.

I backed up until my legs hit the bed. The light kept blinking. Steady. Patient. Unashamed.

I sat down hard and kept my eyes on the corner. The phone stayed silent in my hand. Outside the locked door Kane’s security waited. Inside the room the camera kept watching.