Chapter 45 Somewhere Safe
Chapter 45 Somewhere Safe
Zoey
Following Leo into his office felt like willingly stepping into a volcano. He didn’t take a seat. He didn’t even wait for me to shut the door behind me. Instead, he turned to face me, his jaw clenched, eyes serious, blocking the space like an impenetrable wall.
Before I could even reach my chair, he spoke.
“You’re in danger.”
I stared at him, completely taken aback and… conflicted. Just hours earlier, this man, this infuriating, confusing, two-faced man, had stood by while my project was sabotaged. He had teamed up with my enemy and let me flounder in front of the entire team without a second thought. And now, out of nowhere, he cared enough to warn me?
Was he serious?
“What?” The word slipped out before I could stop it. “Are you kidding me right now?”
His expression didn’t change. “I’m dead serious.”
I let out a short, incredulous laugh. “Just a few hours ago, you practically handed me over to the wolves, and now you’re what, my knight in shining armor?” My voice sharpened despite my efforts to keep it steady. “Why should I believe anything you say?”
He exhaled slowly, as if he had anticipated my reaction. “I don’t have time to explain the design incident.” His voice was clipped and urgent. “But you cannot go to your apartment tonight.”
My heart raced. “Why not?”
“Zoey, just listen—”
“No.” I crossed my arms and planted my feet firmly. “Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t think you’re the danger.”
He stepped closer, looking down at me with a steadiness that made my breath hitch. “If I wanted to harm you,” he said calmly, “I would have done it by now.”
A cold shiver ran down my spine. The confidence in his voice wasn’t just arrogance; it was a hard truth. And that scared me more than anything else. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a key card. “Spend the night here.” He set the card down on my desk. “It’s under my name. It’s secure.”
I stared at it as if it were a venomous snake. “I’m not spending the night in the same place you take your... companions.”
I noticed his jaw tighten just a bit, enough for a flicker of satisfaction to spark inside me. Good. Let him feel something.
Then he stepped back. “It’s your choice.” He turned as if to leave, like my life wasn’t hanging by a thread because of one sentence he refused to explain. “Stay. Go home. Do whatever you want.”
Before I could think twice, I grabbed the card off the desk. “Why are you doing this, Leo?”
He paused at the door, his hand gripping the handle. “Because my idiot brother would kill me if anything happened to you.”
He didn’t wait for me to respond. He walked out, closing the door with a soft click that felt louder than a slam.
I stood there, staring at the card in my hand as if it might hold all the answers. It didn’t. It was just a small piece of plastic weighing down my chest with a hundred pounds of dread.
The rest of the day dragged on. I tried to bury myself in work. My mind was a chaotic mess. Still, I managed to get through my tasks. I answered emails. I fixed what I could of the design issues from earlier. I pretended to breathe normally.
When five o’clock finally rolled around, I packed my bag slowly, feeling like my body was twice as heavy as usual.
I stepped into the hallway and came to a halt when I spotted Ethan making a beeline for Leo’s office door. His face was set, determined, as if he’d been gearing up for this moment.
What on earth could they possibly need to talk about right now? The timing felt way too off. A nagging voice in my head suggested this might be the danger Leo had alluded to. Or maybe I was just losing my grip on reality.
Ethan knocked once and strode in without waiting for an answer. My curiosity flared up, mingling with a twinge of fear. I crept closer, trying to be as quiet as possible in my heels, ready to press my ear against the door like some nosy character from a soap opera—
“Miss Lawson.”
I jumped so violently I almost dropped my laptop.
Daniel was standing right behind me, hands clasped behind his back like a butler waiting for orders. Or a soldier poised for action.
Where did he even come from? Did he just appear out of thin air?
“I—Daniel, what—?”
“I believe,” he said in a calm tone, “I need to take you somewhere.”
My heart raced against my ribs. “And what if I don’t want to go?”
“Then I’ll still have to take you,” he replied, his tone steady. “But I’d much rather you come willingly.”
I stared at him, my pulse quickening, thoughts swirling. He didn’t seem threatening. But he didn’t look harmless either. He was… neutral. Too neutral. And that unnerved me.
I glanced back at Leo’s office door. Still shut. Ethan was in there. Leo was in there. And here was Daniel, calm and expectant, blocking my way back to the life I knew.
“I—” My throat felt parched. “Where to?”
He pointed toward the elevator. “Somewhere safe.”
Of course, that was the answer.
I took a deep breath. It seemed my night wasn’t going to wrap up with Netflix and a tub of pity ice cream as I had hoped.
“Alright,” I said. “I’ll go.”
He nodded once. “Thank you. This makes things easier.”
I trailed behind him slowly, feeling hesitant. Each step away from my office felt like leaping off a familiar cliff into an uncertain abyss. Yet, a small, rebellious part of me, the part that still recalled Leo’s pleading eyes when he urged me not to go home, whispered that this might just be the right choice after all.