Chapter 3

She was still staring at me when I looked away.

I dropped my eyes back to my screen and didn't move, but I felt it, that steady, deliberate gaze coming through the glass wall of Malvin's office like she wanted me to know she was looking.

Maya was still beside me, waiting for a reaction I wasn't going to give her.

"Thank you for telling me," I said quietly, and went back to my report.

I didn't sleep that night. I lay in the dark thinking about a woman with a history in Malvin’s life who came back the same week I moved into his penthouse, and turning over everything I didn't know. She had told his assistant she wasn't leaving until he explained why he chose me.

Why would she tell the assistant that? I wondered

I told myself it didn't matter because this was a contract, and his past was none of my business, but Maya’s words kept circling in my head.

The next morning, I came out of my room earlier than usual and found Malvin in the dining room, coffee in hand and working on his tablet. He didn’t look up.

“You’re up early.” He said.

“Couldn’t sleep.” I went to the coffee machine and kept my back to him. “Who was the woman in your office yesterday?”

"Her name is Sera Holt." His voice was completely even. "A former consultant, and she's back for unfinished business on a project she handled before she left."

"Maya said she left suddenly," I said.

"Maya talks too much." He set his cup down. "The car leaves in twenty minutes."

That was the end of the conversation. He walked out, and I stood there with my coffee going cold, knowing better than to push further.

Sera Holt was everything I wasn't, and I understood that the moment I saw her properly.

She had been reinstated for a project review on the third floor, and through the glass wall, I watched her walk the room effortlessly. She laughed easily, touched Malvin's arm when she made a point, and he didn't move away, not even once.

I stared for a while and walked away.

At my desk, I opened my report and focused on the Thursday deadline. Then, I told myself I was here to work, and that was the only thing I could control.

By lunch, she approached me and appeared beside my desk with a warm smile that didn't quite reach her eyes. "You must be Elena. I've heard a lot." She extended her hand. "Sera Holt."

"Elena Kain." I shook it briefly.

Something shifted across her face when I said the name, but I caught it.

"It's lovely that he finally settled down." She tilted her head slightly. "His world can be a lot to step into, especially coming from outside it."

She let that last part sit between us just long enough. "I'm managing," I said, and turned back to my screen.

She left without another word, but the weight of what she hadn't said stayed at my desk long after she was gone.

That evening, I visited my mother at the recovery facility. She was sitting up when I arrived, which was already better than the last visit. I kissed her cheek and pulled the chair close.

"You look tired," she said immediately.

"I'm okay, Mom," I said.

She studied my face the way she always had, reading the parts I didn't say out loud. "How is he treating you?"

"Fairly." It was the most honest answer I had.

She was quiet for a moment, then her hands folded in her lap, and her voice shifted into something careful. "Elena, there's something I need to tell you about the Kains."

My chest pulled tight. "Mom…"

"I've had too much time to think since the surgery." She looked at the window. "The night I was accused of stealing from the estate, it wasn't just jewelry that went missing. There were documents, and I saw something that night that I never told anyone."

"What did you see, Mom?" I asked.

She opened her mouth, and then the door knocked softly, and her nurse stepped in to check her vitals. My mother leaned back against the pillow and closed her mouth.

"Tomorrow," she said quietly, once the nurse finished. "Come back tomorrow, and I'll tell you everything."

I wanted to push, but instead, I kissed her forehead and left, carrying the weight of what she hadn't said all the way back to the penthouse.

Malvin was in the home office when I got back, documents spread across the desk.

He glanced up briefly. "How is she?"

"Recovering well." I dropped my bag on the sofa and sat at the far end, not ready for my room but not willing to talk either.

I reached for the remote and put something quiet on the television. He didn't object, and we stayed like that for nearly an hour, him working, me staring at a screen I wasn't watching.

Then his phone buzzed. He picked it up, glanced at the screen, and everything in his body went still. He stood without a word and walked into his study, pulling the door shut behind him.

I stared at the closed door, then I decided to walk around the room when I saw what he had left behind on the desk. A document, half tucked under a folder, one corner visible. I leaned forward without thinking.

One line. That was all I could read from where I stood. I saw my father's name, and the document it was attached to had the Kain family seal at the top.

The study door handle turned. I sat back quickly, grabbed my bag, and stood up just as Malvin walked out. His eyes moved to the desk immediately, then to me.

The silence between us lasted three full seconds.

"Go to bed, Elena," he said quietly.

I walked to my room without a word, but my hands wouldn't stop shaking.