hed, but I kept my teeth togethe

just enough to sound wounded. "If you didn't drink your tea while the old

st hard enough for me to feel the hard callus along his index finger. For an executive who spent his day

asting the word like it was a

s, memorized until the syllables rolled off my tongue without thought.

ng in the cool, conditioned air of the room. He stepped back around his desk,

room. Taylor will be watching you on the feed. If I find a single speck of

. Thank y

p and the tray, turned on my heel,

ftly against the hardwood as I rounded the corner toward the stairs. My chest felt hot, pa

ht the slip with my hands downstairs, and now he was testing my react

hallway, I saw Taylor Cooper leaning a

a silver stylus. The camera feed from the second floor was playi

" Taylor said, not loo

slightly bowed as I held the tray with b

is dark eyes fixing on my face with cold, clinical curiosity. "Most

pilled it on his floor," I said simpl

h in his expression, only the patient assessment of a man who

et against his thigh. "I called the head of security ov

cted cleaning crews, Mr. Cooper. We wore green shirts and clocked in through the service b

tilted his head, watching t

ile and tax records to my personal terminal by two o'clock. If the numbers

erate force. He didn't apologize. He just kept walking toward the private study

o'cl

hree hours and

sixty seconds. The agency cover would collapse, and by three o'clock,

on the cold tap. I splashed cold water onto my face, wiped it dry

master suite was locked down, and Taylor w

t only o

study on the

nside that room, the physical server for the mansion had to be located in the same hub. If I c

drive and corrupt the transfer before

me from the pantr

pkins for the weekend dinner. She dropped them onto the stainless steel

said the formal dining room needs to be set for four guests by one o'

kly on my apron. "Har

adjusting her apron. "And keep the side doors unlocked. Mr. Mo

bor aut

arned me about before the p

ine inspection lunch. I

fake papers. I would be standing in the room with a tray in my hand

king up the box of polished silverwar