Chương 4 - The Iron Queen's Family
Victor treated Ivan as if he were furniture.
That was a mistake.
Invisible men heard everything.
Within days, Ivan noticed strange meetings, unexplained security changes and documents disappearing from Jessi's calendar.
Someone inside Sterling & Vance was feeding Victor information.
Ivan began keeping records.
Jessi hated it.
“You're paranoid.”
“You hired me because you're paranoid.”
“I'm strategically suspicious.”
“That's rich-person paranoia.”
She almost smiled.
Their relationship changed slowly.
Ivan learned Jessi drank coffee black but forgot to eat when stressed.
Jessi learned Ivan called Fiona every afternoon at precisely 3:15.
Fiona eventually met Jessi.
The encounter happened accidentally.
Fiona had to wait in Jessi's office when school closed early.
She looked around the enormous room.
“You live here?”
“No.”
“Daddy says you work too much.”
Ivan nearly choked.
Jessi looked at him.
“Does he?”
Fiona nodded.
“He says scary people work too much because they don't know how to have fun.”
“I never said that.”
“You kind of did.”
For the first time, Ivan heard Jessi laugh.
A genuine laugh.
It transformed her face.
But the warmth disappeared that evening.
Ivan discovered an internal email authorizing a private investigator to obtain Jessi's medical information.
The authorization came from a board member.
Marcus Hale.
Jessi's godfather.
The man she trusted most.
When Ivan showed her, Jessi stared at the screen.
“No.”
“Signature matches.”
“He wouldn't.”
“Someone did.”
Her eyes filled with something Ivan hadn't seen before.
Betrayal.
Then her computer went black.
A message appeared.
STOP DIGGING.
May you like
Seconds later, the office lights died.
And somewhere in the darkness, someone locked the executive-floor doors.
