PART 2
“How long?”

Adrian’s voice was almost too calm.

Mara looked at him through tear-filled eyes.

“Almost six weeks.”

His expression didn’t change.

But something in the room did.

Six weeks.

Six weeks of someone poisoning her.

Six weeks of her coming to work every morning and sitting beneath his roof.

Six weeks of him walking past her desk without seeing what was happening.

“Tell me everything.”

Mara swallowed.

At first, the words wouldn’t come.

Then they came all at once.

“It started with nausea.”

Adrian said nothing.

“I thought it was the pregnancy. Then I started getting dizzy.”

She rubbed her hands together nervously.

“My hair began falling out. I couldn’t keep food down. I was exhausted all the time.”

“Why didn’t you see a doctor?”

“I did.”

She looked down.

“That’s when everything changed.”

Her doctor had ordered blood tests.

Then more tests.

Then a toxicology screening.

The results had been impossible to explain away.

Something was entering her body repeatedly.

Something that shouldn’t have been there.

Something dangerous.

“And the doctor knows?”

“He knows enough.”

“Does anyone else?”

Mara hesitated.

“One nurse.”

Adrian’s eyes narrowed.

“Anyone in this building?”

“No.”

“Are you certain?”

She nodded.

Then reached beneath the desk.

She pulled out a stainless-steel travel flask.

Adrian stared at it.

“What is that?”

“My coffee.”

His eyes hardened.

“Who makes it?”

“I do.”

“Where?”

“The executive kitchen.”

His mind moved immediately.

The executive kitchen was not open to ordinary employees.

Only senior staff had access.

Only a handful of people possessed keys.

And fewer still could enter the area without appearing on the security logs.

Adrian took the flask.

“When was this tested?”

“Yesterday.”

“And?”

Mara’s voice dropped.

“The laboratory found traces of the same substance.”

Adrian looked toward the security camera mounted in the corner.

Then toward the locked hallway.

Then at Mara.

“You’ve been sleeping here?”

She nodded.

“For four nights.”

“Why?”

“The cameras.”

He understood.

She had chosen a desk under surveillance rather than risk being alone somewhere no one could see her.

That meant she trusted the cameras more than she trusted the people who worked for him.

Adrian slowly placed the flask on his desk.

“Why didn’t you leave?”

Mara laughed bitterly.

“Leave where?”

He said nothing.

“If someone inside your organization can reach me here,” she continued, “they can reach me anywhere.”

Her hand moved instinctively toward her stomach.

“I thought about disappearing.”

Adrian’s eyes lifted.

“With the baby.”

She nodded.

“I was going to leave Boston before anyone knew.”

Something shifted in his expression.

“You were going to take my child and disappear.”

“I was going to keep our child alive.”

The words struck harder than an accusation.

Adrian stepped closer.

“And you thought I was part of the danger?”

“I thought you might be.”

He stopped.

For perhaps the first time in his adult life, Adrian Vale had no immediate answer.

Mara looked at him through tears.

“You have enemies everywhere.”

“So do you now.”

“I know.”

“How long have you been planning to leave?”

“Tomorrow.”

The word settled between them.

Tomorrow.

She had intended to disappear tomorrow.

Without telling him.

Without giving him the chance to know his own child.

Adrian turned away.

His hands curled slowly at his sides.

He had spent his entire life believing that power meant control.

Control over businesses.

Control over people.

Control over information.

But standing in that dark office, he realized there was one thing he had never been able to control.

Fear.

And Mara had been living with it every day.

He turned back.

“No one is taking you anywhere.”

Her eyes widened.

“You don’t understand.”

“I understand perfectly.”

He pointed toward the door.

“The person who did this knows your routine.”

His gaze shifted toward the security cameras.

“They know when you arrive.”

Then toward the coffee flask.

“They know what you drink.”

Finally, toward the medical report.

“And they know exactly how much time they have.”

Mara went pale.

Adrian’s voice softened.

“That means this isn’t random.”

He walked to the security console.

“Someone has been watching you.”