Chapter 256

She shook her head and said softly, "I need to get back to work."

She turned, walked into her office, and closed the door gently behind her.

The moment it clicked shut, she leaned against it, eyes closed, and let out a long, slow breath.

No sound from the other side. Cedric didn't knock. No footsteps walking away.

A long time passed before she heard a dull thud from the far end of the hallway—like something being hurled hard against a wall.

---

The next morning, Katniss had barely settled into her desk chair when a knock came at her office door.

She didn't think much of it. "Come in."

The door opened. To her surprise, it wasn't her assistant.

It was Leon.

He wore a charcoal jacket, his hair combed immaculately, that trademark gentle smile on his face. A steaming cup of coffee in his hand, as if he'd simply been passing by and decided to drop in.

The moment their eyes met, Katniss's stomach dropped.

Leon rarely sought her out one-on-one. And yet here he was, at this particular moment, coming to her.

She suppressed the alarm rising inside her, blanked for a split second, then quickly recovered and stood with a smile.

"Katniss, busy?" Leon walked in and settled into the chair across from her desk as if he owned it.

"I was in the neighborhood. Haven't been by the office in a while—thought I'd check in on you."

Katniss set down her pen and offered a polished smile. "Mr. Peterson, you didn't have to come all the way here. You could've just had someone call me."

"Oh, stop with the 'Mr. Peterson.' Call me Uncle Leon."

He waved his hand dismissively, chuckling. "Your grandfather and I go way back. Cedric calls me Uncle Leon—if you're calling me Mr. Peterson, that's just too formal."

Katniss smiled and corrected herself. "Uncle Leon."

"That's more like it."

Leon nodded with satisfaction, took a sip of coffee, and let his gaze wander around the office.

"Nice setup you've got here. Young people always have good taste."

"You're too kind, Uncle Leon."

They exchanged pleasantries for a few minutes, Leon's conversation seamless and airtight—every word casual small talk, warm as a senior genuinely looking after a younger colleague.

Katniss smiled along, but every nerve was on alert.

Something felt off. Leon showing up unannounced like this—there had to be a reason.

Sure enough, about ten minutes in, the conversation began to shift.

"Katniss, I hear you've been out of the office a lot lately?"

He held his coffee, his tone deliberately casual. "Everything okay at work?"

Katniss's pulse quickened, but her face betrayed nothing. "Everything's fine. Just some family stuff I've been dealing with."

"Oh?"

Leon leaned forward with concern.

"What kind of family stuff? Need any help? You've been at the York Group for years, and I've seen everything you've contributed. If you're in any kind of trouble, just say the word."

The words were impossibly warm. Before all this, Katniss might have been touched.

Now, they just felt unsettling.

"Thank you, Uncle Leon. It's really nothing major."

She smiled, lifted her coffee cup, and took a sip, as if choosing her words carefully.

"It's about that case from before—the Lillian situation. You've heard about it, right?"

Leon's expression didn't change. Same warm, concerned look.

"Of course. Heard all about it. That girl was foolish—had a perfectly good life and threw it away on the wrong path."

"Right."

Katniss set down her cup and sighed.

"But I've been finding out that the case might be more complicated than it seemed. Do you remember Jason? The deputy finance director who was fired?"

The hand holding Leon's coffee cup paused. Barely a fraction of a second—so brief that if Katniss hadn't been watching his hands, she would have missed it entirely.

"Sure, of course I remember."

He took another casual sip.

"That guy embezzled company funds. Cedric personally fired him. Why—is he connected to Lillian's case?"

"I just found out myself."

Katniss met his eyes, a perfectly calibrated note of puzzlement in her voice.

"Jason turns out to be a key figure in Lillian's case. But he died in a car accident recently. The timing just feels too convenient, so I've been looking into it."

"Oh?"

Leon set his cup down and leaned back, a barely perceptible gleam passing through his eyes.

"What have you found?"

Katniss shook her head.

"Nothing substantial yet. With Jason dead, the trail went cold. But I'm still digging. Something about the whole thing doesn't sit right."

Leon was quiet for two seconds. Then he nodded, his smile deepening.

"Curiosity is a good thing in young people. So is being thorough. But Katniss, let me give you some advice from someone who's been around the block—some things, once they're over, you should let them stay over."

"Digging too long never ends well for the one holding the shovel."

His tone was still gentle, even fatherly.

But Katniss caught it—a flash of cold in his eyes, there and gone like a blade catching light.

She smiled and nodded. "You're right, Uncle Leon. I'll keep that in mind."

Leon stood and patted her shoulder.

"Well, I'll let you get back to it. Come by the house for dinner sometime."

"Absolutely. I'd love that."

Katniss watched his figure disappear through the doorway. The smile slid off her face, degree by degree.

She looked down at the hand gripping her pen. Her palm was ice cold.

---

That evening, Katniss left the office after working late and headed for the underground garage.

The parking structure was deserted. A few fluorescent tubes cast sickly white light, throwing cold circles across the concrete floor.

Her heels echoed sharply against the cement, each click amplified in the cavernous silence.

She reached her parking spot and stopped. Her gaze swept casually across her car—and her pupils contracted.

A deep scratch ran the length of the car's body, as if something sharp and metallic had been dragged across it with force, exposing the silver primer beneath the paint.

All four tires were flat. The car sagged crookedly against the ground, looking almost absurd.

Katniss stood motionless, staring at it. Her heart hammered, but her expression remained perfectly calm.

She pulled out her phone, took photos first, then called building security.

"Hi, my car's been vandalized. I need you to pull the surveillance footage."

The response came quickly, the voice on the other end sounding uneasy.

"Ms. Astor, we checked the cameras near your parking spot. Between eight and nine this evening, there was indeed someone who approached your vehicle."