Chapter 26: Twenty five

Eric waited in the lobby before I even stepped out of the elevator. His posture was straight, and his expression looked calm to anyone else, but I recognized the tension in his shoulders. Something had happened. Something important.

He walked toward me without hesitation. “Let’s step outside.”

The tone of his voice made my stomach tighten. He did not sound angry or frustrated. He sounded focused, which usually meant something serious had developed. We left through the side entrance, where the street noise was steady but not overwhelming. He guided us toward a quieter corner near a row of small trees.

I wrapped my arms lightly around myself. “What happened?”

He pulled in a slow breath. “There was an internal security issue this morning. Someone tried to access my personal files two days ago. Someone inside the company.”

My heart skipped. “Why would anyone try to get into your files?”

He held my gaze. “Because they were looking for something connected to you.”

A cold feeling spread across my chest. “How do you know?”

He opened the folder he carried and handed me a printed sheet. I stared at the words without speaking. The page showed a record of a request to the hotel where we first met. Someone had tried to obtain information from that night. My name. My room. Anything they could get.

The request had been denied, but that did not comfort me. Not at all.

I tightened my grip on the paper. “Someone tried to dig into the hotel records again.”

“Yes,” he said quietly. “The signature on the request was forged. Professionally forged. Whoever did it knows how to imitate high level staff.”

I swallowed hard. “You think it is someone inside Kingston.”

“I know it is,” he said. “The breach attempt on my files also came from inside the building.”

The sidewalk noise faded. All I heard was the steady thump of my own heartbeat.

My voice came out softer than I intended. “Is it the same person who erased me from the hotel system four years ago?”

“I believe so.”

I felt the air leave my lungs. For a moment I could not speak. That night had shaped my entire life. It forced me to run. It forced me to raise my child alone. It forced me to build a life on fear of someone I never even saw. And now that shadow was back.

I looked down at the paper again. The request date was last week. The forged signature belonged to a senior executive. I recognized the name. I had seen it printed on meeting rosters and company memos. But I had never spoken to him.

My throat tightened. “Why now? Why after all this time?”

Eric shook his head slowly. “I do not know yet. They were careful before, and they are careful now. They are testing boundaries. They want to see how far they can go without revealing themselves.”

I lowered the paper and let my arms fall to my sides. “Why would they do this? What do they want?”

He stepped a little closer. His voice stayed steady. “Someone in this company had a reason to make you disappear the first time. Someone wanted to keep me from finding you. And that person is not finished.”

I stared at him, trying to understand. “You think they still want to separate us.”

“Yes.”

The word hit me harder than I expected.

My breath caught. “But we are not even together. Not officially. Not publicly.”

“They do not care what we call it,” Eric said softly. “They see the connection. They always did. They saw it before either of us understood it.”

I turned away and looked at the street. People walked past us without a clue that my entire world was shifting again. Slow and quiet, like a warning whispered in the dark.

“I cannot go through that again,” I said, barely above a whisper. “I cannot run again.”

“You will not.” His voice was firm, not loud, but solid enough to steady something inside me. “This time we handle it together. No secrets. No hiding. No one makes decisions for you again.”

I nodded slowly, but my chest still felt tight. The idea that someone inside his company had that much influence terrified me. Someone with access. Someone with intelligence. Someone with a reason.

I folded the paper and handed it back to him. “What do we do?”

He closed the folder with a quiet click. “We watch. We gather information. We stay ahead of whoever this is. I have the security department tracking every suspicious action. I want to know every detail before they take their next step.”

I wrapped my arms around myself again. A soft wind moved through the trees, and I felt the sting of the cold against my skin. “And what if they try something bigger?”

“They will not succeed,” he said. “Not this time.”

I believed him. Not because he was powerful or confident. I believed him because he looked at me with determination, not fear. He had already lost four years with his son. He was not going to let anyone take anything else.

I lifted my eyes. “We need a plan.”

“We will make one,” he said. “Both of us.”

We stood in silence for a moment. The world continued around us, unaware that something had begun. Something quiet. Something patient. Something dangerous.

Eric looked down at the folder once more before tucking it under his arm. “This person thought they could control the situation in the past. They thought they could dictate the direction of our lives. They were wrong then and they are wrong now.”

I took a slow breath. “You think they will move again.”

“Yes,” he said. “The question is when.”

Another silence passed as I processed everything. The past had not died. It had waited. It had watched. And now it had returned, creeping into the edges of our lives like a shadow stretching under a door.

But there was one difference now. I was not alone.

Eric’s hand brushed mine gently, not quite holding it, but close enough that I felt the quiet promise in the gesture.

“We will figure this out,” he said.

I gave a small nod, steadying myself. “Then we start now.”