Chapter 3 - WHY GRAHAM HIRED HER
Audrey's first instinct was to run.
Her second was to hate herself for having nowhere obvious to run to.
Nicholas saw both reactions.
“You should listen to your father.”
She stared at him.
“What?”
“He told you not to trust me.”
“You're saying that very calmly.”
“I've had people distrust me for less.”
“This is not funny.”
“I didn't say it was.”
They stood between cardboard boxes beneath fluorescent storage lights.
Audrey held the key tightly.
Nicholas moved farther away.
“You choose what happens next.”
That surprised her.
“No threats?”
“No.”
“No demand for the key?”
“No.”
“You control half the people who would terrify me into giving it to you.”
His expression changed.
“That isn't control I'm proud of.”
Audrey studied him.
Then asked, “Why did my father know your brother?”
Nicholas leaned against the opposite wall.
“Thomas Fallon was facilities manager at Harbor Nine.”
“The warehouse.”
“Yes.”
“Where they died?”
“Yes.”
Nicholas told her what his family had told him twelve years earlier.
Julian had gone to Harbor Nine to inspect a security problem.
A fire started shortly before midnight.
Thomas was working late.
Both men died.
Investigators ruled the fire deliberate but blamed a rival crew.
Nicholas was twenty-seven.
Three months later, his father suffered a stroke.
Within a year, Nicholas inherited control of businesses he had never expected to run.
“Graham was there that night?” Audrey asked.
“He claimed he arrived after the fire started.”
“And you believed him?”
“For twelve years.”
Audrey looked at the envelope.
“My father didn't.”
“No.”
They returned to the estate shortly before two.
Daniel Reyes was waiting.
His expression was grim.
“What?”
Reyes handed Nicholas a personnel file.
“Audrey's.”
She frowned.
“What about it?”
“You applied through the household staffing agency eleven months ago.”
“Yes.”
“The agency rejected you initially.”
Audrey stared.
“For what?”
“Not enough formal estate experience.”
That made sense.
Before the mansion, she'd cleaned offices and worked hotel housekeeping.
“So how did I get hired?”
Reyes looked at Nicholas.
“Graham personally overrode the rejection.”
Silence.
Audrey's stomach turned.
Nicholas took the file.
Graham's signature appeared on the approval.
Beside it:
FAMILY CONNECTION VERIFIED.
Audrey went cold.
“What family connection?”
Reyes opened another attachment.
Graham had ordered a full private investigation before Audrey's first interview.
Her school history.
Her mother's death.
Liam's school.
Thomas Fallon's employment history.
Even photographs of the apartment.
“He knew who I was before he hired me.”
Nicholas's voice turned hard.
“He didn't hire you because he thought you were qualified.”
Audrey almost laughed.
“That's comforting.”
“He brought you into this house because he thought your father left you something.”
The brass key suddenly felt heavier.
Nicholas looked at it.
“Do you know what it opens?”
“No.”
Reyes examined the numbers stamped along one edge.
“Private vault company.”
Audrey looked at him.
“Where?”
“White Plains.”
Nicholas's phone vibrated.
Unknown number.
He answered.
Graham's voice came through.
“Has she found the key yet?”
Audrey stopped breathing.
Nicholas's expression didn't change.
“Where are you?”
Graham laughed softly.
“You should ask Audrey why her father told her not to trust you.”
Nicholas looked at her.
“He already showed better judgment than most people I employ.”
A pause.
Then Graham said:
“Ask her why Thomas Fallon was at Harbor Nine after his shift ended.”
Audrey frowned.
Her father had always been home by seven.
Nicholas asked, “Why?”
“Because Julian called him.”
“What did Julian want?”
Another laugh.
“To help him steal from you.”
Nicholas's jaw tightened.
“You're lying.”
“Maybe.”
The line went quiet.
“Or maybe your brother wasn't the saint you made him after he died.”
The call ended.
Audrey looked at Nicholas.
Neither believed Graham.
But then Reyes found the archived schedule.
Thomas Fallon's shift had ended at 6:00 P.M.
He badged back into Harbor Nine at 10:41.
Using an executive guest authorization.
Approved by Julian Rainer.
May you like
Audrey's father hadn't simply been caught in the warehouse fire.
Julian had secretly summoned him there.
