The front door was locked.

Daniel Mercer stood behind the host counter, his face so pale that he looked physically ill. Two waiters exchanged frightened glances. A woman near the window slowly lowered her fork.

I stared at Adrian Voss.

“What does Mrs. Ellis have to do with you?”

Adrian didn’t answer immediately.

Instead, he gestured toward the empty chair beside his table.

“Please sit down, Miss Carter.”

“I’ve already been fired. I don’t think I need to sit through another lecture.”

A faint expression crossed his face.

“You have a habit of speaking before understanding a situation.”

“And you have a habit of ordering people around.”

One of the men standing near the entrance shifted uncomfortably.

Nobody spoke to Adrian Voss like that.

Apparently, nobody had informed him that I wasn’t particularly interested in surviving the evening by being polite.

He finally pulled out his phone.

“Bring her in.”

I frowned.

“Bring who in?”

Before he could answer, the restaurant’s front door opened again.

An elderly woman stepped inside, leaning heavily on a wooden cane.

Mrs. Ellis.

But she wasn’t alone.

A younger woman in a navy coat accompanied her, carrying a leather handbag.

Mrs. Ellis looked confused when she noticed everyone standing.

“Sophie?”

I immediately rushed toward her.

“Mrs. Ellis! Are you okay? Did you get home safely?”

She nodded, but her eyes quickly filled with tears.

“I’m so sorry, sweetheart. I didn’t want you getting into trouble because of me.”

I gently took her hands.

“Please don’t apologize. Are you feeling alright?”

She nodded again.

Then Adrian spoke.

“Mrs. Ellis, would you like to tell Miss Carter why you came here today?”

The elderly woman looked at him.

“Mr. Voss, I don’t think this is the right place.”

“It is precisely the right place.”

I looked between them.

“You two know each other?”

Adrian leaned back.

“Mrs. Ellis has been working with my foundation for eleven years.”

I blinked.

“Your foundation?”

He nodded toward the woman in the navy coat.

“She manages our community outreach program. Mrs. Ellis is one of our most trusted volunteers.”

Mrs. Ellis lowered her eyes.

“I used to be a schoolteacher. After my husband pᴀssed away, I started helping families who couldn’t afford basic necessities. Adrian’s foundation helped me keep the program running.”

I slowly turned toward Adrian.

“Then why was she eating alone without enough money to pay for lunch?”

His expression darkened.

“Because someone has been stealing from the foundation.”

The room went silent again.

He continued.

“Three weeks ago, our finance department discovered irregular payments from a fund established specifically for elderly residents. Nearly $280,000 has disappeared.”

My mouth fell open.

“What?”

Mrs. Ellis nodded sadly.

“The money was supposed to help people pay for groceries, prescriptions, and emergency expenses. Some of the families have been waiting for ᴀssistance for months.”

I looked at her trembling hands.

“Mrs. Ellis, is that why you didn’t have your wallet today?”

She shook her head.

“No, sweetheart. I really did leave it in the taxi. But there’s something else.”

She glanced at Adrian.

“I was supposed to meet him here today to deliver some documents.”

Adrian nodded.

“Documents that may identify the person responsible.”

I looked toward Daniel.

He had suddenly become very interested in the floor.

Something about his reaction made my stomach тιԍнтen.

Adrian noticed it too.

“Daniel.”

My former manager swallowed.

“Yes, Mr. Voss?”

“Would you care to explain why the restaurant’s security office has been refusing to release last Thursday’s financial records?”

Daniel’s lips parted.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Adrian placed a pH๏τograph on the table.

It showed Daniel standing outside a private office with a thick envelope in his hand.

The timestamp was clearly visible.

Three days earlier.

Daniel’s expression changed.

“That’s not what it looks like.”

“Then explain what it looks like.”

Daniel glanced toward the kitchen.

“I was handling a private matter.”

Adrian’s voice remained calm.

“Using money intended for elderly residents?”

“That money has nothing to do with me!”

Mrs. Ellis stepped forward.

“Daniel, I recognized your signature on the documents.”

He looked at her sharply.

“You should stay out of this.”

I immediately moved between them.

“Don’t speak to her like that.”

Daniel laughed nervously.

“Who do you think you are? You don’t even work here anymore!”

I looked him straight in the eyes.

“You fired me for spending twelve dollars on someone who needed lunch. I think I’ve earned the right to stand here.”

For the first time, Adrian smiled.

It wasn’t a friendly smile.

It was the kind of expression that made Daniel take an involuntary step backward.

Adrian turned toward one of his men.

“Call our attorneys. Preserve every financial record, every payment authorization, and every security recording connected to the foundation.”

The man nodded and immediately stepped away.

Then Adrian looked at Daniel.

“You’re going to explain everything to the appropriate authorities.”

Daniel began shaking his head.

“Mr. Voss, please. I can explain. I have a family.”

“So do the people who were waiting for that money.”

Daniel’s eyes moved toward me.

“Sophie, tell him this is a misunderstanding. You know me. We’ve worked together for two years.”

I stared at him.

“You humiliated an eighty-two-year-old woman because she couldn’t pay for a sandwich. Then you fired me for helping her.”

“That was business!”

“No. That was a choice.”

He had no answer.

Adrian stood.

“Now, about the twelve dollars and forty cents.”

I frowned.

“What about it?”

He reached into his jacket and placed an envelope on the table.

“There’s enough money in there to cover every meal you have ever paid for a customer.”

I pushed it back.

“I don’t want your money.”

“It’s not charity.”

“I don’t care what you call it. I paid for her lunch because she needed help. I don’t expect to be rewarded.”

Adrian studied me for a long moment.

“Then what would you accept?”

I glanced at Mrs. Ellis.

“Her program. If the money is missing, help the people who were supposed to receive it. Make sure they get their prescriptions and groceries. That’s what matters.”

Something shifted in his expression.

He looked toward his foundation director.

“Prepare an emergency payment for every verified family on that ᴀssistance list. No one waits another day because of this investigation.”

The woman nodded.

“Understood.”

Then Adrian turned back to me.

“And you?”

I crossed my arms.

“What about me?”

“Your manager fired you for showing compᴀssion. I don’t employ people who punish kindness.”

I raised an eyebrow.

“Are you offering me a job?”

“A position, if you’re interested. My foundation needs someone who understands what happens when ordinary people fall through the cracks.”

I hesitated.

“I’m not interested in working for the mafia.”

A waiter nearly dropped a glᴀss.

Adrian stared at me.

Then, unexpectedly, he laughed.

“Fair enough.”

He slid a business card across the table.

“It’s a legitimate foundation. Independent financial oversight. An actual employment contract. You can have your attorney review everything before signing.”

I picked up the card but didn’t put it in my purse.

“Why me?”

“Because you spent your own money helping a stranger when you couldn’t afford to lose your job.”

He paused.

“Most people talk about doing the right thing. You did it when it cost you something.”

I looked at Mrs. Ellis.

She was smiling through her tears.

For the first time that afternoon, I felt like I could breathe.

Then Adrian’s phone vibrated.

He glanced at the screen.

His expression changed immediately.

“Who sent this?”

The foundation director approached him.

“Sir?”

He turned the phone toward her.

It contained a pH๏τograph of a document.

A bank transfer authorization.

Daniel’s signature was visible at the bottom.

But there was another signature beside it.

One I recognized.

It belonged to the owner of The Linden Room.

Adrian slowly looked up.

“Interesting.”

Daniel began backing away.

“Mr. Voss, I swear I didn’t know anything about that transfer.”

Adrian’s voice became dangerously quiet.

“Then why does the restaurant owner appear to have received part of the missing money?”

Nobody answered.

I looked at Daniel, then at the pH๏τograph.

Suddenly, I understood why he had been so desperate to get rid of Mrs. Ellis.

She hadn’t simply forgotten her wallet.

She had come to deliver evidence.

And Daniel had recognized her.

Adrian slipped the phone into his pocket.

“Miss Carter, I believe your firing today was not an accident.”

My stomach тιԍнтened.

“What are you saying?”

He looked directly at me.

“Someone may have wanted to silence the only person in this restaurant who could have helped Mrs. Ellis.”

I felt a chill run down my spine.

Then Mrs. Ellis reached for my hand.

“Sophie, there’s something I haven’t told you.”

I turned toward her.

“What is it?”

She swallowed.

“Yesterday, I received a phone call from someone claiming to be your manager. He asked me whether I had told you about the missing money.”

My blood ran cold.

Daniel’s face went completely white.

And Adrian Voss slowly stood up again.

“Now,” he said, looking at Daniel, “I think we’re going to have a very different conversation.”