Chương 7
Rafe waited until he was gone.
Then Malcolm approached from the end of the hallway.
“We need to talk.”
Rafe looked at him.
“Where is June?”
“In the cafeteria.”
“Why?”
“Because she said watching you stare at walls was depressing.”
Rafe almost sighed.
“That sounds like her.”
Malcolm handed him another envelope.
“What is this?”
“It was left at your office.”
Rafe looked at the envelope.
“No name?”
“No.”
“Who delivered it?”
“A courier.”
“Where is he?”
“Gone.”
Rafe opened it carefully.
Inside was a single photograph.
Not security footage.
Not a document.
A family picture.
Rafe and June as children.
Their parents standing behind them.
A picture he had not seen in years.
His fingers stopped moving.
Malcolm noticed.
“Where did they get that?”
Rafe did not respond.
The photograph had been taken in front of their old house.
Before everything changed.
Before their father died.
Before Rafe became the person everyone feared.
On the back of the photograph were three handwritten words.
You were warned.
Tessa saw the expression on his face.
“Rafe.”
He turned the picture over.
The handwriting was familiar.
Not because he had seen it recently.
Because he had spent years trying not to remember it.
Malcolm noticed the change.
“What is it?”
Rafe closed his hand around the photograph.
“Nothing.”
Tessa looked at him.
Not angry this time.
Something else.
Something closer to sadness.
“You really do not know how to stop.”
Rafe looked at her.
“What?”
“Protecting everyone by pushing them away.”
“I am not pushing anyone away.”
“You are standing alone in a crowded hallway.”
The words hit harder than he expected.
He looked around.
Malcolm stood beside him.
June was somewhere nearby.
Doctors.
Nurses.
Strangers.
People everywhere.
And somehow he still felt alone.
His phone rang.
This time it was not unknown.
It was June.
He answered.
“What happened?”
Her voice came immediately.
“Rafe.”
Something in her tone changed his entire body.
“What?”
“I found something.”
“Where are you?”
“The cafeteria.”
“Stay there.”
“No.”
The answer came quickly.
“June.”
“I found it before you could hide it.”
Rafe went still.
“What did you find?”
A pause.
Then:
“The original security contract.”
His grip tightened around the phone.
“What contract?”
“The one for your security team.”
Rafe looked at Malcolm.
“What about it?”
June lowered her voice.
“It was not signed by you.”
The hallway seemed to disappear.
“What are you saying?”
“I am saying someone has been controlling your security for years.”
Rafe felt the photograph in his hand.
The old picture.
The warning.
The unknown person behind Victor.
The missing pieces moving closer together.
“June.”
“I am looking at the signature right now.”
“Whose is it?”
She hesitated.
That hesitation was worse than the answer.
“Rafe.”
“Whose?”
Her voice became smaller.
“It is Dad’s.”
Her voice became smaller.
“It is Dad’s.”
Rafe did not move.
The hallway continued around him.
A nurse pushed a cart past.
Someone laughed near the elevators.
A phone rang three times before someone answered.
None of it reached him.
“Say that again.”
June breathed out slowly.
“The signature on the contract.”
“No.”
“Rafe.”
“No.”
His voice was quiet.
Not angry.
Not yet.
“Dad died fifteen years ago.”
“I know.”
“Then how?”
“I do not know.”
The answer was the one he hated most.
Not a lie.
Not an excuse.
A gap.
A place where certainty should have been.
Malcolm watched his face carefully.
“What happened?”
Rafe lowered the phone.
“June found our father’s signature on the original security contract.”
Malcolm went still.
“That is impossible.”
“Yes.”
The word came quickly.
Too quickly.
Tessa noticed.
“You do not sound surprised.”
Rafe looked at her.
“I am.”
“You sound like someone who just found out something he already feared.”
He did not answer.
Because she was right.
The photograph in his hand felt heavier.
The warning on the back.
The old handwriting.
The contract.
The security team.
Victor’s fear.
Pieces that should not connect were beginning to form a picture.
And he did not like what it showed.
“Where is the contract?” Rafe asked June.
“In the archive room at your office.”
“Who let you in?”
“No one.”
“June.”
“I have keys.”
“You should not be there alone.”
A pause.
Then she said quietly.
“I know.”
That was not agreement.
That was hurt.
Rafe closed his eyes for a moment.
“I am coming.”
“No.”
The answer was immediate.
“June.”
“You are going to walk in here angry and start accusing everyone.”
“I need answers.”
“You need control.”
The words landed.
He looked down.
For once, he did not have a response ready.
June continued.
“Do not touch anything.”
“I know how evidence works.”
“I did not say you didn’t.”
“You implied it.”
“I worry.”
“I know.”
Her voice softened.
“That is why this is hard.”
The call ended.
Rafe stood still.
Tessa watched him.
“She is right.”
He looked at her.
“You always side with my sister?”
“No.”
She picked up the cold coffee cup.
“I side with the person saying the thing nobody wants to hear.”
Malcolm looked between them.
“I am beginning to understand why you two argue.”
“We do not argue,” Tessa said.
Rafe looked at her.
“You absolutely argue.”
She ignored him.
Malcolm almost smiled.
Almost.
Then his phone buzzed.
He checked it.
His expression changed.
“What?”
Malcolm looked at Rafe.
“It is Victor.”
Rafe stepped closer.
“What about him?”
“He woke up.”
They moved back toward the room.
The doctor stopped them before they entered.
“One person.”
Rafe looked at Malcolm.
“Stay here.”
Malcolm nodded.
Tessa followed.
Rafe looked at her.
“You are not family.”
“No.”
“Then why?”
She met his eyes.
“Because you are going to walk in there and forget you are injured.”
She raised an eyebrow.
“There it is again.”
“What?”
“That sentence.”
Rafe almost argued.
Then stopped.
Because he had said it too many times.
The doctor allowed Tessa inside.
Victor looked worse than before.
But awake.
His eyes moved toward Rafe.
May you like
“Boss.”
“Do not talk too much.”
