Chapter 2: The Man Grant Was Afraid Of
Grant grabbed my arm the moment I turned toward the exit.
"Mara.
Stop."
His grip was tight.
His voice was low, the way it gets when he's trying to control a situation without making a scene.
I looked down at his hand on my arm.
Then I looked up at him.
He let go.
"You don't understand what you just did," he said.
"I understand perfectly."
The blonde woman hadn't moved.
She was staring at her phone, her face white.
Whatever message had just landed in her inbox had knocked the confidence right out of her.
Grant stepped closer.
"That file — whoever told you about that file is lying to you.
There is nothing in there that means what you think it means."
"Then why are you shaking?"
He opened his mouth.
Closed it.
Ellie stirred against my shoulder.
Her small hand curled into my collar the way it always does when she senses something is wrong, even in sleep.
I held her tighter.
"I want you to think very carefully about your next move," Grant said quietly.
"Because there are people involved in this who are not as patient as I am."
That was when the lobby doors opened behind him.
A man in a dark suit walked in — someone I had never seen before.
May you like
But Grant had.
Because the moment Grant saw his face, he stopped breathing.
