CHAPTER 2 #2
“I can access internal communications, board calendars, and foundation disclosures without raising immediate alarms. You know the players, the arena, and the people security ignores because they think you are only a hockey player.”
“Only.”
“Try not to sound wounded.”
“What do you offer?”
“I keep what I saw tonight private until we understand the threat.”
“That is not an offer. That is self-preservation.”
“I can also keep the press from learning their captain assaulted a former employee beneath the arena during a charity gala.”
Mark made a thoughtful sound. “That part has value.”
I ignored him.
“And in return?” I asked.
“You tell me everything that directly affects my safety or Ben’s. You do not follow me without permission. You do not decide what I am allowed to know. And you do not touch me to end an argument.”
My gaze dropped to her wrist.
A faint red mark remained where I had held her.
I hated seeing it.
“That was not an argument,” I said.
“It was not permission either.”
She was right.
The admission sat like a blade in my throat.
“Fine.”
Her eyebrows lifted. “Fine?”
“I will not touch you to control where you go.”
“Or monitor me.”
“I will not secretly monitor you.”
“That adjective is doing criminal work.”
“If Parker is watching you, I will know where you are.”
“You will ask.”
“When time allows.”
“Every time.”
“No.”
She stared at me.
I stared back.
Mark removed his glasses again. “I miss contract disputes.”
Olivia broke first, but only to change tactics.
“Then the arrangement is over.” She picked up her bag. “I will investigate without you.”
I caught the desk edge before my hand could catch her.
She knew I would not let her walk into this alone. She was using it.
Smart.
Infuriating.
“Ask,” I said.
She paused at the door.
“I will ask before tracking you unless there is an immediate threat and I cannot reach you.”
She turned. “Define immediate.”
“Someone with a weapon. A confirmed abduction attempt. A direct threat with location evidence.”
“No assumptions because you dislike who I am meeting.”
My jaw hardened.
Her eyes sharpened with triumph. She knew exactly where jealousy would live if we let it.
“We are not discussing your dates,” I said.
“We are discussing your limitations.”
“I have very few.”
“That is one of your more serious delusions.”
Mark stood. “Do we have an arrangement before dawn?”
Olivia looked at me.
I held out my hand.
She looked at it as if it might close around her again.
Then she placed her palm against mine.
The contact was brief. Formal. It still hit harder than the elbow Gerard had driven into my ribs.
“Temporary,” she said.
“Until Parker is stopped.”
“And then we return to hating each other.”
“We never stopped.”
Something moved in her expression. A memory, maybe. Or the same unwanted heat that had followed us for years.
She withdrew her hand.
Mark left the office to arrange a secure exit, giving them privacy neither had requested. The white-noise machine continued its low hiss.
Olivia released Alex’s hand, but the warmth remained across his palm.
“Temporary arrangements have rules beyond tracking,” she said. “We decide how information is stored, who receives it, and what happens if one of us lies.”
“If you lie about a threat, I remove you from the situation.”
Her expression sharpened. “You do not remove me anywhere.”
“Then suggest a consequence.”
“We end the partnership.”
“That punishes both of us and helps Parker.”
“It also means there is a cost to deception.”
He studied her. Olivia negotiated as if every word would later be examined by attorneys. It was one of the things he had always admired and deliberately mocked.
“No lies about immediate danger,” he said. “Personal information stays personal unless it affects the investigation.”
“Define affects.”
“Can Parker use it to threaten, manipulate, locate, or discredit either of us?”
“Reasonable.”
“If one of us receives contact, the other sees it.”
“Agreed.”
“No meetings alone.”
“Not agreed.”
“Olivia.”
“If I am interviewing an employee who will not speak in front of the captain, you do not sit beside me looking murderous.”
“I can look less murderous.”
“No, you cannot.”
He almost smiled.
She noticed and looked irritated by it.
“Meetings involving Parker, Gerard, Vale, or any unknown intermediary require backup,” she amended. “Backup chosen by the person attending.”
“Who would you choose?”
“That depends on the meeting.”
“Not Robert’s security.”
“Agreed.”
The ease of that agreement told him how deeply the tunnel breach had damaged her trust in her father. He had wanted her to question Robert for years. Watching the distrust take root brought no satisfaction.
Olivia opened a new encrypted note on her phone and typed the rules. “We also need a working theory.”
“Parker wants evidence from Robert.”
“Too simple. If he only wanted evidence, he would release what he already has. He wants control of the timing.”
“Leverage against the board?”
“Possibly. Or the franchise. My father has been negotiating a minority ownership sale. A scandal could lower the valuation.”
“Parker buys back in.”
“Or forces Robert to give him something that matters more than money.”
“Like?”
Olivia looked toward the door. “I do not know yet.”
Alex watched her record the facts: disabled camera, master credential, Gerard’s identity, Evan’s charm, Ben’s photograph, reference to Eleanor. Her thinking was disciplined, but emotion tightened her mouth whenever her mother’s name appeared.
“What was Eleanor like?” he asked.
The question surprised her.
“She hated hockey.”
“That seems inconvenient.”