The Girl Who Didn’t Know

Sophia Bennett had survived university.

She had survived four jobs.

She had survived an employer who had taken credit for her work.

She had survived three months of living almost entirely on instant noodles.

She had even survived walking into a glass wall in front of half the executive floor.

But nothing had prepared her for Monday morning at Vale Corporation.

“You’re early.”

Sophia looked up.

Claire stood beside her desk, holding two cups of coffee.

“I was told Mr. Vale appreciates punctuality.”

“He does.”

Sophia smiled.

Claire handed her one of the cups.

“And I appreciate people who don’t make me walk across forty-eight floors for coffee.”

Sophia accepted it.

“You’re officially my favorite person here.”

“It’s been seven minutes.”

“I form attachments quickly.”

Claire laughed.

Sophia glanced toward Adrian’s office.

The glass doors were closed.

“Is he always like that?”

“Like what?”

“Terrifying.”

Claire considered the question.

“Mostly.”

Sophia sighed.

“Wonderful.”

At exactly eight o’clock, Adrian’s door opened.

“Sophia.”

She immediately stood.

“Yes?”

“Bring your notes.”

She grabbed her notebook.

Then stopped.

“My notes?”

“Yes.”

“Right.”

She hurried after him.

Adrian walked quickly.

Sophia had to practically jog.

He entered a conference room where several executives were already waiting.

Every person at the table looked older, wealthier and more experienced than her.

Sophia swallowed.

Adrian took his seat.

“You’re presenting the preliminary turnover analysis Friday.”

Sophia blinked.

“Friday?”

“Yes.”

“You mean this Friday?”

His expression didn’t change.

“There’s only one Friday this week.”

Someone at the table coughed to hide a laugh.

Sophia sat down.

“Right. Excellent. Love that.”

Adrian looked at her.

“Do you have a problem with the deadline?”

“No.”

“Good.”

Sophia opened her notebook.

“Because I was going to say yes, but then I remembered I enjoy having employment.”

For the briefest moment, Adrian’s expression changed.

Not quite a smile.

But close.

Sophia noticed.

So did Claire.

Neither said anything.

The meeting began.

Sophia listened carefully.

She wrote down numbers.

Departments.

Locations.

Complaints.

Patterns.

By the end of the hour, she had filled six pages.

Adrian stood.

“Anything?”

Sophia hesitated.

Everyone looked at her.

She cleared her throat.

“Yes.”

Adrian waited.

“Your turnover problem might not actually be a recruitment problem.”

Silence.

One of the executives frowned.

Adrian simply said:

“Explain.”

Sophia looked down at her notes.

Then back at him.

“People don’t usually leave companies because they suddenly hate their jobs. They leave because something repeatedly tells them they don’t matter.”

The room became quiet.

She continued.

“If your European operations have unusually high turnover, I want to know which managers lose the most employees, which departments have the highest absenteeism, how long employees stay before resigning, and whether departures cluster around specific management changes.”

Adrian studied her.

Sophia smiled nervously.

“I might be completely wrong.”

“You might.”

Her smile disappeared.

“But?”

“Find out.”

And then he walked out.

Sophia stared after him.

Claire leaned toward her.

“Congratulations.”

“For what?”

“You’ve officially been given permission to investigate half the company.”

Sophia looked at her notes.

“Is that good?”

Claire smiled.

“With Adrian?”

She lowered her voice.

“It depends on what you find.”

Sophia frowned.

“What does that mean?”

But Claire was already walking away.

Sophia looked around the empty conference room.

Something about Vale Corporation suddenly felt different.

She had thought she had been hired to analyze employee turnover.

She hadn’t realized she might be stepping into a company full of secrets.

And somewhere above them, behind a locked office door, Adrian Vale was staring at a photograph of his wife in another man’s arms.

Sophia knew nothing about it.

She didn’t know Elena.

She didn’t know Marcus.

She didn’t know about the mysterious man.

And she certainly didn’t know that her new employer was about to uncover a secret that would eventually pull her into the middle of something far bigger than a job.

For now, Sophia simply picked up her notebook.

She had work to do.

And she had no idea how dangerous that work was going to become.