Elara's POV
The email appeared on my screen at exactly 2:47 PM, and my stomach dropped before I even read it.
Subject: Performance Review - Immediate Action Required
My hands shook as I clicked it open. Jake Martinez, the friendly intern who'd started last Monday, was being let go. Effective immediately. The reason? Discrepancies in employment documentation.
I stared at the words until they blurred. This was the third time in six months. Three different people. Three sudden terminations. All within days of talking to me.
Something wrong?
I jumped so hard my knee slammed into my desk. Adrian stood in my doorway, perfectly still, watching me with those dark eyes that saw everything.
Just startled me, I said, forcing a smile. My older brother had always been protective, but lately, his concern felt different. Heavier. Like a hand pressing down on my chest.
You look upset. He stepped inside my office without being invited, closing the door behind him. The click of the lock made my pulse quicken.
It's nothing. Just work stuff.
Adrian's gaze shifted to my computer screen. I quickly minimized the email, but not quickly enough. His jaw tightened almost imperceptibly.
The intern, he said. Not a question.
Jake. He seemed nice.
He lied on his resume. Adrian's voice was calm, measured. The same tone he used in board meetings when crushing competitors. I verified it myself this morning. Falsified references. Fake credentials. I couldn't let someone like that near you.
Near me. Not near the company. Near me.
I didn't know he worked near me, I said carefully. His desk is on the fifth floor. I'm on seven.
Something flickered across Adrian's face. Too quick to identify. You had lunch with him yesterday.
My blood went cold. I'd eaten in the crowded cafeteria, surrounded by dozens of employees. How did Adrian know I'd sat across from Jake? Unless...
I saw you, Adrian continued, as if reading my thoughts. I was heading to a meeting. You were laughing at something he said.
The way he said laughing made it sound like a crime.
He told a joke about the coffee machine, I said, hating how defensive I sounded. It was funny.
Was it? Adrian moved closer, perching on the edge of my desk. Too close. Did he ask you out?
The question hung in the air like smoke. I should lie. Every instinct screamed at me to lie.
He mentioned coffee, I admitted. Maybe this weekend.
Adrian went very, very still. When he finally spoke, his voice was soft as velvet and twice as dangerous. And you said?
I said I'd think about it.
Good. He stood, smoothing his perfectly tailored suit jacket. Now you don't have to. The problem has been taken care of.
Taken care of. Like Jake was a problem. Like a twenty-three-year-old intern trying to ask me for coffee was some kind of threat that needed eliminating.
Adrian
I protect what's mine, Elara. His hand lifted, and for one horrible second I thought he might touch my face. Instead, he brushed an invisible piece of lint off my shoulder. That's what big brothers do.
The words should have been comforting. They weren't.
He left my office, leaving the door wide open this time. I sat frozen, listening to his footsteps fade down the hallway, and tried to remember when my brother's protection started feeling like a cage.
That night at the family estate, I pushed food around my plate and avoided Adrian's eyes.
How was work, sweetheart? Mom asked, her elegant face warm with genuine interest.
Fine. I stabbed a piece of asparagus. Quiet.
Across the table, Adrian cut his steak with surgical precision. The new intern was fired today. Turns out he fabricated his entire resume. Very disappointing.
Dad frowned. That's the third termination this quarter. HR needs to tighten their screening process.
I've already handled it, Adrian said smoothly. He finally looked at me, and his eyes held something I couldn't name. We can't be too careful about who we let into our inner circle. Trust is everything.
The message was clear. I heard it loud and clear.
Mom changed the subject to her charity gala, and I made appropriate noises while my mind raced. I needed to test something. A terrible, sick suspicion was growing in my chest, and I had to know if I was being paranoid or if my instincts were finally catching up to a truth I'd been ignoring for years.
After dinner, I went to my room and opened my laptop. I searched for the names I'd been trying not to think about. David Chen, who'd asked me to a movie last year and transferred to the Singapore office three days later. Marcus Williams, who'd invited me to his sister's wedding and quit two weeks before the date. Sophia Rodriguez, who'd tried to befriend me at a company retreat and was suddenly reassigned to a different department.
Seventeen names. Seventeen people who'd shown interest in being close to me. Seventeen people who'd disappeared from my life with suspicious timing.
All after I'd mentioned them to Adrian.
My hands were shaking when I heard the footsteps in the hallway outside my room. Heavy. Measured. Stopping right outside my door.
A soft knock. Elara? Are you awake?
Adrian's voice, gentle as poisoned honey.
I stared at the door, my heart hammering against my ribs. The handle turned slowly. I'd forgotten to lock it.
The door opened, and Adrian stepped inside, his expression unreadable in the dim light from my desk lamp.
We need to talk, he said quietly, closing the door behind him with a soft click that sounded like a death sentence. About all those searches you just did. About all those names on your screen.
His eyes met mine, and in them I saw something that made my blood turn to ice.
He'd been watching. The whole time.
He'd always been watching.