Chapter 4
Mara reached for the office door, already measuring the distance between herself and the corridor, when Adrian's voice stopped her. She froze, fingers hovering above the handle, every instinct demanding escape.
“Running already?” Adrian asked, his voice calm enough to make her more suspicious as he remained beside the locked door. “You haven't even heard what I'm offering.”
Mara slowly turned, keeping her face controlled despite the pressure building inside her chest. “I don't think there's anything you can offer me that I want.”
Adrian watched her carefully, his expression unreadable as he moved away from the door. “You're wrong. I know you've been investigating my company.”
Mara's stomach tightened, but she refused to step backward. “Then why haven't you exposed me?”
“Because I don't think you're the person I'm looking for,” Adrian answered, his steady gaze making her pulse jump. “And because someone is targeting both of us.”
Mara studied him, searching for the trap hidden beneath his words. “Both of us?”
Adrian's jaw tightened slightly as he held her gaze. “Someone is stealing sensitive information from my company, and you're investigating things you shouldn't know about.”
She folded her arms, using the gesture to hide how badly her hands wanted to shake. “That doesn't mean we're on the same side.”
“No,” Adrian agreed quietly, taking another step closer. “It means we may have the same problem.”
Mara hated how easily his presence unsettled her. She forced herself to meet his eyes, refusing to let him see the uncertainty underneath her carefully constructed confidence.
“What exactly do you want from me?” she asked, keeping her voice steady while her thoughts searched for an escape Adrian had already taken away.
Adrian stopped several feet from her, giving her enough space to breathe but not enough to forget who controlled the situation. “Help me find the person responsible.”
“And if I refuse?” Mara challenged, lifting her chin as she tested the strength of his offer.
Adrian's expression hardened. “You walk away, and you become a suspect in the corporate theft.”
The words settled heavily between them. Mara knew he was right. Leaving now would make her look guilty, especially after he had caught her inside a restricted database.
“You're threatening me,” she said, her voice quieter now as she watched his face for any sign of hesitation.
“I'm giving you a choice,” Adrian replied, his tone controlled. “You can leave and carry suspicion with you, or you can stay and help me uncover the truth.”
Mara looked toward the locked door, then back at him. Neither option gave her the freedom she wanted, but one allowed her to remain inside Vale International.
“You really expect me to trust you?” she asked, a bitter edge entering her voice.
Adrian's eyes held hers. “No. I expect you to trust your own judgment.”
Something about the answer caught her off guard. She hated that he had found a way to make the decision sound like hers.
After a long pause, Mara lowered her arms. “Fine. I'll help you.”
Adrian's expression shifted almost imperceptibly. “Then we start now.”
They began investigating together, comparing information and examining the stolen data. Mara remained careful with every answer, while Adrian challenged anything that seemed too convenient.
“You're avoiding the question,” Adrian said, watching her closely as she examined the information in front of them. “Why does this matter so much to you?”
Mara kept her eyes on the screen, refusing to give him the reaction he wanted. “Because someone is stealing from your company.”
“That isn't what I asked,” Adrian replied, his voice quieter as he studied her. “You're hiding something.”
Mara finally looked at him, irritation flashing across her face. “So are you.”
His gaze remained fixed on hers, and for a moment, neither spoke. The argument should have pushed them apart, yet the tension between them seemed to pull them closer instead.
“You have walls,” Adrian said, his voice unexpectedly soft. “Very high ones.”
Mara's expression tightened as she returned her attention to the documents. “Maybe they're there for a reason.”
“Maybe,” Adrian answered, watching her for another moment. “But you don't have to keep every person outside them.”
Her fingers paused over the page. She refused to look at him because she knew what she might find in his eyes, and she wasn't ready to admit how much his attention affected her.
“You're my employer,” she said, forcing distance into her voice. “Not someone who gets to decide what I let people see.”
Adrian leaned back, accepting the boundary without looking away. “Fair enough.”
The investigation continued late into the night. Documents covered the desk between them, and Mara reached for one at the same moment Adrian reached across the table.
Their hands touched. Neither moved.
Mara felt the warmth of his skin against hers, and suddenly the information on the desk became impossible to focus on. Adrian looked at her, his attention lingering.
She should have pulled away. She didn't. For one suspended moment, Mara wanted him so badly that the desire frightened her. She finally withdrew her hand, breaking the contact before it could become something neither could ignore.
“Focus,” she whispered, forcing her eyes back to the documents.
Adrian's voice came quietly beside her. “I'm trying.”
Mara's heart stumbled at the words, but she refused to look at him. Wanting Adrian was dangerous enough without allowing herself to understand why. Then something on the screen changed everything.
Mara leaned closer as Adrian opened the access records. “Those credentials shouldn't still be active.”
Adrian's expression sharpened as he studied the information. “They belonged to a former executive.”
Mara stared at the screen. “Former?”
Adrian's voice dropped. “He's dead.”
The room seemed to tighten around them as they examined the records again. Someone had been accessing Adrian's private files using credentials belonging to a deceased former executive.
Mara's eyes moved down the screen, following the information until another identity appeared beside the dead executive's name.
Her breath stopped. The dead executive's name appeared beside a second identity: Mara's original name.