It was like someone had set off a silent alarm, and everyone was waiting to see whose name would echo back through the halls. I didn’t panic. Not outwardly. Not even when Carla “accidentally” forwarded me a list of flagged discrepancies that mysteriously hadn’t been flagged the day before.
She played it off as a glitch, but I made a quiet note of the file path the timestamp, and where the edits had originated.
Julian passed me in the hallway twice that day. Once with a concerned smile, and once with a tight nod when he noticed I was deep in conversation with a junior advisor about fund allocations.
The second time, Logan was there. I felt him before I saw him, his presence always preceded him, warm and unyielding like gravity.
He stepped out from the corridor near the records room, his eyes skimming over the hallway before landing on me.
And on Julian. I watched his gaze sharpen just a little.
“Emily,” he said evenly. “Busy afternoon?”
“Only mildly torturous,” I said, closing the folder in my hand. “Half the office is panicking over the audit.”
Julian chuckled. “Good thing Emily thrives under pressure.”
“Does she?” Logan asked, voice deceptively light.
There was a pause that said everything.
Julian cleared his throat. “If you need help filtering those documents, let me know. I can coordinate with the review team directly.”
“That’s not your role,” Logan said before I could answer. His tone didn’t change, but the edge beneath it could cut marble. Julian straightened a little. “I was just trying to help.”
“I’m sure,” Logan said. “But the finance department has its own chain of command.”
I felt the temperature shift. Julian gave a polite nod and excused himself, disappearing down the hall with the efficiency of someone who knew better than to challenge an Alpha.
Logan turned to me. “He’s been around you a lot lately.”
“I hadn’t noticed,” I lied.
His brow arched. “Emily.”
I looked away. “He told me about the audit before it was officially announced. Warned me I might be targeted.”
Logan exhaled, slow and deep. “And you believed him?”
“I’m not sure,” I admitted. “But I’m not ignoring it, either.”
We walked side by side down the hall, our pace in sync. Logan didn’t speak again until we reached the outer courtyard, where late light spilled over the marble fountains and rustled through the hedges.
“I don’t like the idea of you feeling cornered,” Logan said finally.
“I don’t feel cornered,” I replied.
He stopped walking. I did too.
“You don’t have to handle everything on your own,” he said, softer this time. “Even if that’s how it’s always been.”
1/2
Chapter 92
+25 BONUS
The words landed somewhere behind my ribs.
“I’m not used to having anyone in my commet.” I said, surprising treyself with the honesty.
We stood there for a long moment. A breeze passed between us, cathing loose strands of my hair and tugging them gently
across my cheek.
“I’ve been… keeping track of him,” I said eventually. “If Julian’s playing me like Tris.. I need to know for sure
Logan nodded. “Don’t trust him more than you have to.”
I looked at him then, really looked. There was a question behind life eyes, but he didn’t ask it. Didn’t demand answers I wasn’t ready to give. He just stood there, a steady presence in a shifting landscape.
“Thank you,” I said.
He reached out and tucked a strand of hair behind my ear. A quiet gesture that said more than a dozen headlines ever would
“You shouldn’t have to thank me for that,” he murmured. But I did. And I would again because nothing came without cost. Not even kindness. Not even him.
Today’s Bonus Offer
