By lunchtime, everyone knew.

Claire Bennett had taken the CEO’s mother home.

By two o’clock, the story had mutated.

Claire had supposedly rescued Eleanor from armed criminals.

By three, Claire had apparently fought three men.

By four, according to accounting, she had saved Eleanor from being kidnapped.

Claire wanted to disappear.

Instead, she received a message.

Mr. Ashford would like to see you. Executive floor. 4:30 PM.

Diane stared at the message.

“What did you do?”

“Helped his mother.”

“That isn’t what I mean.”

Claire looked at her.

Diane lowered her voice.

“People like Adrian Ashford don’t summon junior employees because they’re grateful.”

Claire’s stomach tightened.

At 4:30 precisely, Claire entered the executive floor.

Adrian stood beside a wall of windows overlooking Boston.

“Ms. Bennett.”

“Mr. Ashford.”

“Sit.”

She did.

He remained standing.

“My mother has early-stage cognitive impairment.”

Claire said nothing.

“She has good days. Usually excellent days. Yesterday wasn’t one.”

“I’m sorry.”

“She traveled here from London three days ago. She was supposed to have security.”

Claire remembered Eleanor’s fear of hospitals.

“She didn’t like being watched?”

Adrian almost smiled.

“You understood that in one night.”

“She’s independent.”

“Stubborn.”

“That too.”

Adrian finally sat.

“I owe you a debt.”

“No.”

His brow lifted.

“No?”

“I helped because she needed help. There isn’t a bill attached.”

“I wasn’t suggesting—”

“I know.”

Adrian studied her.

“What do you want?”

Claire blinked.

“Excuse me?”

“Money? Promotion? A better position?”

Her embarrassment became irritation.

“Nothing.”

“Everyone wants something.”

“Then maybe you need to meet different people.”

Silence.

Claire immediately wondered whether she had just ended her career.

But Adrian leaned back.

“My mother said almost exactly the same thing.”

Claire smiled despite herself.

“She’s smart.”

“She likes you.”

“I like her.”

“That concerns me.”

“Why?”

“Because my mother rarely likes anyone.”

Claire laughed.

For the first time, Adrian smiled.

It transformed him.

For one brief moment he wasn’t the billionaire CEO.

He was simply Eleanor’s son.

Then the smile disappeared.

“There’s something else.”

He pushed a photograph across the desk.

Security-camera footage.

Eleanor leaving a private residence.

Behind her stood a man.

Claire leaned closer.

“Who is he?”

“We don’t know.”

“You think he followed her?”

“I think someone disabled one of her security notifications shortly before she disappeared.”

Claire’s skin prickled.

“The robbery?”

“Police initially believed it was random.”

“Initially?”

“The boys who stole her purse discarded everything except her phone.”

Claire looked up.

“Why?”

“That’s what I’d like to know.”

A knock interrupted them.

Eleanor entered.

“Are you interrogating her?”

“Mother.”

“You have the face.”

“What face?”

“The one your father used when he thought everybody was hiding something.”

Adrian sighed.

Eleanor sat beside Claire.

Then she took Claire’s hand.

“I remembered something.”

Adrian became still.

“What?”

“Yesterday.”

Her voice softened.

“Before the boys.”

Claire watched carefully.

“There was a car.”

“What kind?”

“Black.”

Adrian leaned forward.

“And?”

“A man was watching me.”

“Did you recognize him?”

Eleanor hesitated.

“Yes.”

Adrian’s expression changed.

“Who?”

Eleanor looked frightened.

Then the memory slipped.

“I can’t…”

Claire squeezed her hand.

“Don’t force it.”

Adrian looked impatient, but Claire shook her head slightly.

He stopped.

Eleanor breathed slowly.

Finally she whispered, “He worked for the company.”

Adrian’s face hardened.

Claire felt the room change.

“What company?” he asked.

Eleanor looked toward the enormous ASHFORD GLOBAL logo beyond the glass doors.

“This one.”

That night, Claire returned home unable to stop thinking about it.

A company employee.

A disabled security system.

A stolen phone.

Maybe coincidence.

Maybe not.

At 11:06 p.m., Claire’s phone buzzed.

Unknown number.

She opened the message.

You should have kept walking.

Claire stared at it.

Another message arrived.

Stay away from the Ashfords.

Her blood went cold.

Then a photograph appeared.

Claire standing outside her apartment.

Taken less than an hour earlier.

Someone had followed her home.

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