I Accidentally Walked Into the Private Office
When Gavin entered Giselle’s office, he immediately noticed the envelope.
It sat in the middle of the enormous conference table.
Beside it was a document and a cashier’s check.
Giselle was already seated.
She wore a dark suit buttoned all the way to her neck. Nothing about her appearance suggested what Gavin had witnessed the previous night.
“Sit down, Mr. Barrett.”
Gavin remained standing.
“If you’re firing me, just say it.”
“I’m not firing you.”
She pushed the check toward him.
Gavin looked down.
$85,000.
For several seconds, he thought he had misread the number.
“What is this?”
“Enough to clear your overdue rent, your medical debt, and pay for Paisley’s treatment for quite some time.”
His expression hardened.
“You investigated my daughter?”
“I investigated you.”
“Why?”
“Because I need to know whether you can be bought.”
Gavin stared at the check.
“And apparently you decided eighty-five thousand dollars is my price.”
“No.”
For the first time, Giselle’s voice softened.
“I decided it was enough money for you to listen.”
She opened the folder.
Inside were photographs of a damaged black SUV.
Her SUV.
The one from the accident.
“My doctors told the press I suffered minor injuries,” she said. “That was a lie.”
“I figured that out last night.”
“The accident fractured three vertebrae and damaged nerves in my left shoulder. The brace allows me to work without making the injury obvious.”
“Why hide it?”
Giselle looked toward the windows.
“Because Harrington Group’s bylaws allow the board to remove a chairperson who is medically incapable of fulfilling her duties.”
Gavin understood.
“You think someone wants your job.”
“I know someone does.”
She placed another photograph on the table.
A man in his late forties.
“My brother, Malcolm.”
Gavin frowned.
“What does this have to do with me?”
“The police concluded that my brakes failed because of a manufacturing defect.”
“And you don’t believe that.”
“No.”
She slid a technical report toward him.
“Three days before the crash, my car was serviced at a garage owned through a shell company connected to Malcolm.”
Gavin stared at her.
“Then go to the police.”
“I did. Quietly. The evidence disappeared.”
That changed everything.
Giselle leaned forward.
“Someone inside this company is helping him. My emails are being monitored. My security detail reports to people I no longer trust.”
“And you trust the janitor who accidentally walked into your office?”
“No,” she replied.
“I trust that you’re outside their calculations.”
Gavin almost laughed.
“What exactly do you want me to do?”
“Observe.”
“That’s it?”
“You clean offices after everyone leaves. People ignore you. They leave documents on desks when you’re standing five feet away. They have conversations in front of you because, to them, you’re furniture.”
The words stung because they were true.
“I’m not a spy.”
“You spent six years in military intelligence.”
Gavin’s eyes narrowed.
“That wasn’t in my employee file.”
“No.”
She pushed the check closer.
“Neither was the fact that you received a commendation for identifying an insider leaking convoy information.”
Gavin didn’t touch the money.
“If I agree, what happens?”
“You continue working exactly as before. You don’t break into anything. You don’t steal anything. You don’t confront anyone. If you notice something unusual involving Malcolm or three executives listed in this folder, you report it directly to me.”
“And the eighty-five thousand?”
“Yours whether we find anything or not.”
Gavin finally looked directly at her.
“My daughter isn’t leverage.”
Giselle’s expression changed.
“I know.”
“Then don’t mention her again when negotiating with me.”
A long silence followed.
Then, unexpectedly, Giselle nodded.
“Fair.”
Gavin picked up the check.
But instead of putting it in his pocket, he placed it back on the table.
“I’ll help you for one week. Keep the money until I decide whether you’re telling me the truth.”
For the first time that morning, Giselle looked genuinely surprised.
“You’re turning down eighty-five thousand dollars?”
“I’m postponing it.”
He stood.
“And if I find out you’re using me to hurt somebody innocent, I walk.”
Giselle almost smiled.
“Now I understand why your commanding officer described you as irritatingly principled.”
Three nights passed.
Nothing happened.
Then, shortly after midnight on Thursday, Gavin was cleaning the executive conference room when he heard voices coming from Malcolm Harrington’s office.
The door was slightly open.
Gavin recognized Malcolm’s voice immediately.
“The medical evaluation happens Monday.”
Another man answered.
“And if she passes?”
“She won’t.”
Gavin stopped moving.
“What about the doctor?”
“Handled.”
Then Malcolm said something that made Gavin tighten his grip on the mop.
“Once the board declares Giselle medically unfit, I take control. After that, nobody cares whether she recovers.”
The other man lowered his voice.
“And Barrett?”
Gavin froze.
They knew his name.
Malcolm continued.
“The janitor? He’s already becoming a problem.”
Gavin silently backed away.
His phone was in his pocket.
He needed to warn Giselle.
Then he heard footsteps behind him.
He turned.
His supervisor was standing at the end of the corridor.
But the frightened, nervous man Gavin knew was gone.
Instead, the supervisor calmly locked the fire door behind him.
“Mr. Harrington would like a word with you.”
Gavin looked toward Malcolm’s office.
The door opened.
Malcolm stepped into the hallway.
“You should have taken the money and minded your own business,” he said.
Gavin’s stomach tightened.
“What money?”
Malcolm smiled.
“The eighty-five thousand dollars.”
Only three people were supposed to know about that check.
Gavin.
Giselle.
And the attorney who had prepared the agreement.
Which meant the betrayal was much closer to Giselle than either of them had realized.
And then Gavin noticed something in Malcolm’s hand.
A small silver device.
The same model of remote starter Giselle kept attached to her car keys.
Malcolm saw Gavin looking at it.
His smile disappeared.
That was when Gavin finally understood.
The crash had never been meant simply to injure Giselle.
Someone had expected her not to survive it.