Chapter 1 - LOCK THE ELEVATORS
“Close the elevators.”
Gavin Roberson’s command changed the atmosphere inside the penthouse instantly.
A few minutes earlier, thirty guests had been drinking champagne beneath crystal chandeliers.
Now nobody moved.
The jazz trio had stopped playing.
Waiters stood frozen beside silver trays.
And Marcus Hale, Gavin’s chief financial officer and one of his oldest friends, was standing near the service corridor with his hand halfway inside his jacket.
Gavin noticed.
“So where were you going?”
Marcus slowly removed his hand.
“Nowhere.”
Taylor Bell pointed at him again.
“That’s the man.”
Nora tightened her grip around her daughter’s hand.
“What man, sweetheart?”
Taylor looked toward the photograph lying on Gavin’s desk.
“The man from the picture.”
Marcus forced a laugh.
“She’s three years old.”
No one laughed with him.
Gavin stepped back into his office and picked up the photograph.
It showed Priscilla leaving a private office building in La Jolla.
Marcus stood several feet behind her.
The photograph had been taken four months earlier.
Gavin stared at it.
“You told me you barely knew Priscilla before we got engaged.”
Marcus swallowed.
“I knew her father professionally.”
“That isn’t what I asked.”
Marcus looked toward Priscilla.
It was subtle.
Less than a second.
But Gavin caught it.
So did Evelyn.
Priscilla immediately spoke.
“Gavin, this is becoming absurd.”
He turned toward her.
“Take off the ring.”
The enormous diamond suddenly seemed to weigh a hundred pounds.
Priscilla’s jaw tightened.
“You’re making a mistake.”
“Then prove it.”
She stared at him.
Gavin held out his hand.
“The ring.”
Priscilla slowly removed it.
She dropped it into his palm.
The tiny sound of platinum striking skin seemed louder than the music had been.
Several guests looked away.
Others stared openly.
One person quietly raised a phone.
Gavin noticed.
“Put it away.”
The phone disappeared.
Then Gavin looked at his head of security.
“Eric.”
A broad-shouldered man near the entrance stepped forward.
“Yes, sir?”
“No one leaves until we understand what happened.”
Priscilla’s eyes widened.
“You cannot detain people in your home.”
“I’m not detaining anyone.”
Gavin’s voice remained calm.
“I’m asking my guests to stay while my security team determines whether someone accessed private corporate documents inside my office.”
He turned toward Marcus.
“And apparently, somebody did.”
Marcus ran one hand over his face.
“You need to slow down.”
“No.”
Gavin placed the black folder on the desk.
“I’ve been slow for six months.”
He looked at his mother.
“Too slow.”
Evelyn’s expression tightened.
There was regret in her eyes.
And something else.
Relief.
Gavin turned back to Marcus.
“Unlock your phone.”
Marcus stared at him.
“No.”
The answer stunned the room.
Gavin’s voice dropped.
“Excuse me?”
“My phone contains company information.”
“I am the company.”
“That doesn’t give you the right to search it.”
Gavin studied him.
“You’ve worked for me for eleven years.”
Marcus said nothing.
“I was best man at your wedding.”
Still nothing.
“When your son needed surgery, I flew the specialist in from Boston.”
Marcus’s face changed.
“Don’t bring my family into this.”
“I’m trying to understand why a man I considered family is standing in my apartment refusing to explain why he secretly met with my fiancée.”
Marcus looked down.
Gavin took a step closer.
“Unlock the phone.”
Marcus’s hand closed around the device.
Then something unexpected happened.
Taylor spoke.
“He put it in the plant.”
Every adult looked at her.
Nora crouched.
“What did he put in the plant?”
Taylor pointed down the hallway.
“The little black thing.”
Marcus’s face emptied.
Nora turned toward him.
Taylor continued.
“I saw him when Mommy was getting cups.”
Gavin looked toward the ballroom.
Along the windows stood several enormous indoor olive trees in decorative stone planters.
Marcus suddenly moved.
Not toward Gavin.
Toward the nearest planter.
Eric intercepted him immediately.
“Sir.”
Marcus stopped.
“Get out of my way.”
Eric didn’t move.
Gavin walked toward the planter Taylor had pointed at.
He crouched.
Moved several decorative stones.
Nothing.
Then Taylor shook her head.
“Other one.”
She walked toward the second tree.
Everyone followed.
Taylor pointed.
“That one.”
Gavin reached between two stones.
His fingers touched plastic.
He pulled out a small black flash drive.
No label.
No logo.
Marcus closed his eyes.
Priscilla whispered something under her breath.
Evelyn heard it.
“Oh, God.”
Gavin turned.
“What is this?”
Marcus said nothing.
Gavin held up the drive.
“What is on it?”
Marcus finally looked at him.
Fear had replaced defiance.
“You don’t want to open that here.”
Gavin stared at him.
“Why?”
Marcus glanced toward the guests.
Then toward Evelyn.
Then toward Priscilla.
“Because once you see what’s on it, this stops being about your engagement.”
The room fell completely silent.
Gavin’s expression hardened.
“What does it become?”
Marcus swallowed.
“A criminal investigation.”
And Priscilla suddenly whispered—
“Marcus, shut up.”
Gavin slowly turned toward her.
Marcus looked at Priscilla.
May you like
Then back at Gavin.
And for the first time all night, he seemed more afraid of the woman Gavin had planned to marry than of the billionaire standing directly in front of him.
