Chapter 5: The Warning

Evangeline's Pov

I stared at the note for the fifth time, my hands wanted to shake, but I would not let them because that would mean whoever sent this had won already, and I was not going to let that happen.

The paper was thick and expensive. The kind you could only get from office supply closets in places like Harrow Industries, and the handwriting was careful and neat except for three words where the pen had pressed down harder, like whoever wrote this was angry or scared or both.

But that was not what made my stomach feel like ice. My brain starts working overtime because anyone could have written those word, anyone could have been angry about a widow asking questions. But the details were what mattered and the details were very specific.

The note mentioned the south site and Daniel's shares. It mentioned safety reports, those three things together meant only one thing which was that whoever sent this knew exactly what I was looking for. That meant they were inside the company, and I was in more danger than I thought.

I held the paper up to the lamp on Daniel's desk and looked for anything that might tell me more, but there was nothing except smooth white paper and black ink. That neat handwriting that looked almost like it came from a teacher or a lawyer or someone who spent their whole life learning how to write perfectly.

The capital letters leaned slightly to the right, and the lowercase letters were all the same height except for the tails on the y and the g, which dropped down further than they should. Whoever wrote this used a fountain pen because I could see where the ink had pooled slightly at the beginning of each stroke.

I walked to the fireplace and turned it on, i watched the flames jump up and then I held the note over them and let the corner catch fire. The whole thing went up fast, I dropped it onto the grate and watched it curl into black nothing.

But I had already memorized every detail because that was what you did when someone threatened you, and you wanted to stay alive long enough to figure out who they were and make them regret it.

I went back to the desk and sat downn, opened my laptop and pulled up the Harrow Industries website and clicked on the executive directory and started counting names.

Sixty three people had access to all three pieces of information mentioned in that note. Sixty three people was too many to investigate on my own but it was a starting point and starting points were better than nothing.

My phone buzzed on the desk, I looked down and saw a text from a number I did not have saved, but I knew exactly who it was anyway.

Tomorrow night. Eight pm at my place.

Nathaniel.

I stared at the message and thought about ignoring it because every time I went to his penthouse. I felt like I was losing some part of myself that I would never get back, but then I thought about the note and whoever was watching me. I realized something important.

If I was sleeping with Nathaniel then I had protection, because nobody at Harrow Industries would dare touch me without his permission. Even if they wanted to, they would have to go through him first and going through Nathaniel Harrow was not something anyone did lightly.

The affair was not optional anymore, maybe it never had been because from the moment Daniel died I had been playing a game where the rules kept changing. The only way to survive was to make yourself valuable to the people who could crush you.

I texted back one word.

Fine.

Then I put my phone down and poured myself three fingers of whiskey from the bottle Daniel kept in his bottom drawer. I stood at the window and looked out at the city and wondered how many other people were standing in their apartments right now making deals with the devil because they had run out of better options.

The whiskey burned, I finished it in two swallows and poured another.

My phone rang, I looked at the screen and saw it was my father calling. I almost did not answer but then I thought about what he would do if I ignored him which was call again and again until I picked up so I answered.

"What do you want."

"Is that any way to greet your father."

"You have not been my father since you sold me to the Harrows, so let's skip the pleasantries and get to the point."

He was quiet for a second and then he sighed like I was the one being unreasonable.

"I heard about the will and the shares. Thirty percent is a lot of power Evangeline and power makes people nervous."

"Good."

"Good? Do you have any idea what you are getting yourself into? The Harrows are not people you play games with. Nathaniel especially is not someone you want as an enemy."

"Who said he was my enemy."

Another pause, i could practically hear him thinking through the phone.

"What are you doing."

"What you taught me to do. Surviving."

"There is a difference between surviving and getting yourself killed. If you push too hard, they will push back and when they push back there will not be anything left of you."

I laughed, it sounded mean even to my own ears.

"You are the one who put me in this position so do not pretend you care what happens to me now."

"Of course I care. You are my daughter."

"I am your investment and a bad one at that, because Daniel is dead and now you do not have access to Harrow money anymore so let's stop pretending this is about family."

"Evangeline please."

"Goodbye."

I hung up before he could say anything else. I blocked his number because I did not have time for his guilt, his warnings or whatever else he wanted to dump on me.