Tous les chapitres de : Chapitre 11 - Chapitre 15

Elise arrived at seven-forty the next morning. She unlocked her computer, printed Damien’s full schedule, and set it on the exact corner of his desk the way Claire had shown her. She checked the coffee machine in the small pantry, made sure the cups were clean, and returned to her chair before anyone else on the floor appeared.Damien walked in at eight-fifty. He stopped at her desk and picked up the printed schedule.“The two o’clock with legal needs a thirty-minute buffer after it,” he said. “Move the investor call to three-fifteen. Confirm both changes before nine-thirty.”“Yes, Mr. Kane.”He went into his office without another word. Elise made the changes, sent the updated invites, and printed a fresh copy. When she carried it in, he was already on a call. He pointed to the desk without looking up. She set the paper down and left.At nine-forty he buzzed her phone.“Bring the Henderson file. The blue one.”She found it, knocked once, and entered. He held out his hand. She gave hi

Elise stayed at her desk until the floor emptied. Most of the staff had left by six. The anonymous email still sat in her inbox like a bruise she could not stop touching. She had not answered it. She had not forwarded it. She had simply worked through the rest of the day with her face carefully blank while people glanced at her and looked away again.At six-twenty her desk phone rang. Damien’s extension.“Come in.”She stood, smoothed her skirt, and walked into his office. He sat behind the desk with his jacket off and the sleeves of his shirt rolled once. The thin glasses were still on. He pointed to the door.“Close it.”Elise shut the door. The click sounded loud in the quiet office.Damien leaned back in his chair. “Sit.”She sat in the chair across from him. Her hands rested on her thighs so he would not see them shake.“You saw the email,” he said.“Everyone saw the email.”“I know who sent it.”Elise’s head lifted. “Who?”“That stays with me for now. What matters is how you res

Elise left the hospital with Damien’s message still open on her phone. The man in the dark suit had stood at the billing desk the whole time she waited for her rideshare. He never looked at her, but she felt him there. She sat in the back seat of the car and kept her bag on her lap. The driver stayed quiet. She was glad for it.The office building looked the same as always from the street. Inside, the lobby was almost empty. She rode the elevator up, walked to her desk, and sat long enough to shut the computer down and lock the drawers. Her hands moved slow. She signed out at the security desk without looking up and took the elevator down to the parking garage.The garage sat under the building in two levels of concrete and dim lights. Her car was on the lower level near the far wall. She walked with the bag over one shoulder and her keys already in her hand. Her footsteps sounded too loud in the open space.She was ten steps from her car when two men stepped out from between a row of