Chapter 2 - The Man Louis Wasn’t Supposed to Notice
The next morning, Corrine arrived six minutes early.
Louis noticed that too.
She carried coffee in one hand and a stack of correspondence in the other, moving through the executive floor with the efficiency that had made her indispensable.
The bruise beneath her jaw was covered better today.
Louis pretended not to see it.
“Your nine o’clock moved to ten,” she said.
“Why?”
“His flight was delayed.”
“Cancel lunch.”
“You have lunch with Senator Wallace.”
“Then cancel something else.”
Corrine gave him a look.
“You pay me to organize your schedule, not destroy it.”
Louis almost smiled.
Almost.
“Do I?”
“Yes.”
She placed the coffee on his desk.
“One sugar.”
He looked at her.
“You’ve stopped pretending.”
“About the coffee?”
“About knowing that I know.”
Corrine’s expression tightened.
The lightness vanished.
Louis immediately regretted pushing.
“I said I would let it go.”
“You did.”
“And I will.”
She nodded.
“Thank you.”
But neither of them believed the conversation was over.
At 10:37, Corrine’s desk phone rang.
She answered without looking at the number.
“Butler Holdings, executive office.”
Silence.
Louis was walking past the glass wall when he saw her expression change.
Her shoulders stiffened.
Her face lost color.
“No,” she whispered.
Louis stopped.
Corrine turned away from the glass.
“Don’t call me here.”
Another silence.
Then:
“I already told you.”
Her hand began trembling.
Louis opened his office door.
Corrine saw him.
She immediately lowered her voice.
“Dawson, stop.”
There it was.
The name.
Louis walked toward her.
Corrine turned her chair away.
“Don’t come here.”
Louis stopped several feet behind her.
He could hear a man’s voice through the receiver but not the words.
Corrine’s eyes closed.
“No.”
Another pause.
Then she whispered:
“He’ll hurt me.”
Louis felt something inside him become dangerously quiet.
Corrine ended the call.
For several seconds, she remained facing away.
Louis said nothing.
Finally, she turned.
Her eyes were wet.
Embarrassment appeared before fear.
That angered him more than anything.
She believed she should be ashamed.
Louis crouched slightly beside the desk so he wasn’t towering over her.
“Thank you for telling me.”
Corrine blinked.
“What?”
“You told me.”
“I didn’t mean to.”
“You still did.”
Her breathing shook.
“He wants money.”
“I know.”
Her face changed.
Louis realized his mistake.
“How?”
He straightened.
Corrine stood too.
“You investigated me?”
“I investigated him.”
“You had no right.”
“I know.”
“Then why?”
“Because you came into my office with bruises.”
“That doesn’t make my life yours.”
“No.”
His answer came immediately.
Corrine stopped.
Louis continued.
“It makes me concerned. It does not make you mine to control.”
Something in her expression softened, but only slightly.
“You should have told me.”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you?”
“Because you asked me to leave it alone.”
“That makes absolutely no sense.”
“I left you alone.”
Corrine stared at him.
“I watched him.”
Her face hardened again.
“You had someone following Dawson?”
“Yes.”
“That’s insane.”
“Probably.”
Despite everything, she almost laughed.
It disappeared quickly.
Louis lowered his voice.
“What does he want?”
“Money.”
“How much?”
“It changes.”
“Why?”
“Because his debts change.”
“How much have you given him?”
Corrine looked away.
“Corrine.”
“Enough.”
“That isn’t a number.”
“It’s the number you’re getting.”
Louis accepted it.
“What happens if you refuse?”
She didn’t answer.
He glanced at the fading bruise.
He already knew.
“Let me help.”
“No.”
“Not decide. Help.”
Corrine wrapped her arms around herself.
“I can handle Dawson.”
“You shouldn’t have to.”
“That isn’t the same thing.”
“No.”
Louis paused.
“What do you want?”
The question seemed to surprise her.
“What?”
“If I do nothing unless you ask, what do you want?”
Corrine looked toward the windows.
For the first time, Louis saw how tired she was.
Not physically tired.
The deeper exhaustion of someone who had spent months anticipating another person’s anger.
“I want him to understand there’s nothing left.”
“Money?”
“Fear.”
Louis said nothing.
“I keep thinking if I give him enough, he’ll go away. But every time I give him something, he comes back because now he knows I’ll give him something.”
“Yes.”
“I need to tell him no.”
“You already have.”
“Not where he believes me.”
Louis understood.
“You want to meet him.”
Corrine nodded.
“That’s dangerous.”
“I know.”
“I can have security—”
“No uniforms.”
“Why?”
“Because if he thinks I brought an army, he’ll say I never faced him myself.”
Louis disliked every word.
But he had promised her a choice.
“Then where?”
“The company garage.”
“No.”
“You asked what I wanted.”
“I did.”
“That’s what I want.”
Louis walked to the window.
Thirty floors below, traffic moved through the city.
His instincts told him to put Dawson in a car, drive him somewhere private, and make absolutely certain he never frightened Corrine again.
But that would turn Corrine into an object being passed between two controlling men.
Louis refused.
Finally, he turned.
“I stay nearby.”
Corrine hesitated.
“Not beside me.”
“Nearby.”
“And security?”
“Farther back.”
She studied him.
“You won’t interfere unless I ask?”
Louis held her gaze.
“Unless he touches you.”
“That wasn’t the deal.”
“That part isn’t negotiable.”
Corrine should have argued.
Instead, she nodded.
“Fine.”
That evening, the underground garage was almost empty.
Corrine waited beside a concrete pillar.
Louis stood out of sight.
Security waited near the elevator.
At 7:16, footsteps echoed through the garage.
Dawson Palmer appeared.
Corrine’s entire body stiffened.
Louis watched from the shadows.
Dawson stopped in front of her.
“You brought it?”
“No.”
His expression changed.
Corrine lifted her chin.
“You’re not getting anything else from me.”
Dawson laughed.
“You think this is a negotiation?”
“No.”
She sounded stronger now.
“It’s over.”
He stepped closer.
Corrine held her ground.
Then Dawson reached out.
His fist closed around the front of her blouse.
Louis stepped from behind the pillar.
“You should let her go.”
Dawson turned.
Recognition appeared instantly.
“Butler.”
Louis stopped several feet away.
“Take your hand off her.”
Dawson slowly released Corrine.
Louis moved between them.
For one second, Louis believed it was finished.
Then Dawson smiled.
It was the smile of a man who had just discovered a different weapon.
He looked past Louis at Corrine.
“You think anyone else wants you?”
Corrine flinched.
“You think he cares?”
Louis’s jaw tightened.
Dawson laughed.
“You’re his secretary.”
Louis had intended to say nothing.
He had intended to let security remove Dawson.
He had intended to remain controlled.
Instead, five words left his mouth.
“She is my wife.”
Silence.
Dawson’s smile disappeared.
Corrine stared at Louis.
May you like
Her eyes went wide.
And Louis realized that in trying to save her from one dangerous man, he had just told a lie that could place her directly inside the most dangerous part of his own world.
