Chapter 5 - The Coworker Three Desks Away
Oliver returned to Northstar the next morning wearing the same suit he had worn to the lounge. The rain had dried, but the humiliation had not.
Daniel Frost met him in the lobby. “You shouldn't be here.”
“I know.”
“Security has your badge disabled.”
“Then walk me upstairs.”
Daniel looked toward the reception desk. “You have no idea how much pressure is coming from Vale Meridian.”
“I am beginning to understand.”
Jessica stood outside Oliver's office. Her eyes were swollen, but her makeup was perfect. Mark's desk three places away was empty.
“You shouldn't have come,” she said.
“Everyone keeps saying that.”
“I called because I was scared.”
“You were scared before I found you in bed with him?”
“Oliver, please.”
He stopped a few feet away. “Tell me where Mark is.”
“I don't know.”
“You said he was missing.”
“He didn't come home. His phone is off. The police asked me questions.”
“Why would the police ask you?”
Jessica folded her arms. “Because they think I know more than I do.”
A security officer approached with a sealed envelope. “Mr. Parker, this was left at your desk.”
Inside was a photograph of Oliver, Elena, and Chloe leaving the storage unit. On the back, someone had written: STOP DIGGING OR GRACE PARKER PAYS.
Jessica saw the message. Her face drained of color.
“What?” Oliver asked.
“Nothing.”
“You recognize the handwriting.”
She shook her head too quickly.
Oliver remembered every time she had claimed not to know Mark's schedule, every time she had turned her phone facedown. His heartbreak had been personal. Now it was evidence.
“Did Mark use you to get access to my files?”
“No.”
“Did you use Mark?”
“I said no.”
Her voice cracked. Oliver saw genuine fear beneath the defensiveness.
“You need a lawyer,” he said.
“Are you going to report me?”
“I don't know yet.”
“You always knew what was right.”
“No. I knew what was simple.”
Daniel appeared at the end of the corridor. “Oliver, legal wants you in conference room B.”
The meeting lasted eleven minutes. Northstar had terminated his contract for violating data policy. His final paycheck was being held until the investigation ended.
Outside, Elena waited beside a black town car.
Oliver stopped. “Did you arrange this?”
“No.”
“Did you know I was being fired?”
“Chloe told me.”
“I am not coming to work for you.”
“I did not ask you to.”
“You want me to investigate my father, your family, and the people attacking us. That is work.”
“Then set your own terms.”
She handed him a folder. Inside was a proposed consulting agreement, with a fee large enough to make his mother's mortgage disappear.
Oliver closed it. “I won't be bought.”
“Good. Name a fee that lets you remain independent.”
He looked at her, furious that she understood the difference.
“No fee,” he said. “I want access to every file, no obligation to protect Vale Meridian, and the right to walk away.”
“Agreed.”
“And my mother gets security she chooses, not guards you assign.”
“Agreed.”
“You don't lie to me again.”
Elena's expression tightened. “I can agree to tell you when I am withholding something. I cannot promise I will never lie to anyone.”
Oliver almost smiled. “That is a terrible answer.”
“It is an honest one.”
His phone buzzed.
May you like
A new message contained a video still of Mark, blood on his collar, staring into the camera.
The caption read: YOUR GIRLFRIEND KNOWS WHERE HE IS.
