Chapter 3 - The Job Harper Swore She Would Never Take
Harper stared at the photograph.
"No."
Nobody answered.
She picked it up with trembling fingers.
The image showed her leaving Laura three nights earlier.
Her coat was pulled tight around her body. Her hair was loose after her shift. She was looking at her phone.
She hadn't known anyone was watching.
"Where did you get this?"
Beatrice signed.
Harper couldn't concentrate enough to translate.
Roman stepped closer.
"What is she saying?"
Harper forced herself to watch Beatrice's hands.
"It was mailed to her yesterday."
Roman's head snapped toward his mother.
"Yesterday?"
Beatrice nodded.
"And you came to dinner tonight without telling me?"
Her hands moved rapidly.
Harper translated.
"She says she wasn't going to let a photograph imprison her."
Roman stared at the ceiling as if asking it for patience.
"Mom, somebody photographed Harper before either of us had met her."
That was the part none of them could explain.
Harper sat down.
"I don't know your family."
Roman studied her.
"I believe you."
"You hesitated."
"I'm thinking."
"About whether I'm involved?"
"About why somebody believes you are."
That answer was worse.
Harper looked again at the photograph.
There was handwriting on the back.
One word.
LEO.
The room seemed to tilt.
Roman caught Harper's elbow.
"Sit."
"My brother."
"I know."
"No. You don't understand."
She turned the photograph toward him.
Roman read the name.
Beatrice saw it too.
Her hand covered her mouth.
Roman's security chief, Daniel Cross, entered the room and immediately sensed the change.
"Problem?"
Roman handed him the photograph.
"Find out who took this."
Daniel studied it.
"When did it arrive?"
"Yesterday."
"I'll pull restaurant surveillance."
Harper stood.
"I need to go home."
Roman blocked her path without touching her.
"No."
Her fear became anger.
"You don't get to tell me where I can go."
"Someone followed you."
"Which is exactly why I don't want to stay in a house connected to whoever is doing this."
"Your apartment is safer?"
She had no answer.
Roman lowered his voice.
"Harper, whoever sent that knew your brother's name."
She looked away.
"I'll have security take you home. They'll stay outside."
"No."
"Then stay here."
"No."
"What exactly are you saying yes to?"
"Finding out why Leo's name is on that picture."
Beatrice approached Harper.
She signed gently.
Let us help.
Harper stared at her.
Leo had been gone for six years.
Six years since the phone call.
Six years since a rainy highway, a driver who had lost control, and the moment Harper became an only child.
Leo had been twenty-two.
Brilliant.
Stubborn.
Funny.
He had been studying computer systems and working nights for a private records company.
Harper suddenly remembered something.
"What was your father's company called?"
Roman frowned.
"Moretti Development."
"No. I mean the company that handled its records."
"I don't know."
Beatrice did.
Her hands moved.
Harper stopped breathing.
"What?" Roman asked.
Harper looked at him.
"Northstar Archival Systems."
Roman nodded slowly.
"Yes. I remember the name."
Harper's face had gone white.
"Leo worked there."
The room fell silent.
Roman took the photograph back.
"Your brother worked for a company connected to my father?"
"Not your father. Not then. Leo worked there six years ago."
"What did he do?"
"Digitization. Old corporate records. Court documents. Archived contracts."
Roman and Daniel exchanged a look.
Harper saw it.
"What?"
Daniel answered.
"If someone was trying to bury something from twenty-eight years ago, digitizing old records could uncover it."
Harper shook her head.
"Leo never told me anything."
"Maybe he couldn't," Roman said.
"Or maybe this has nothing to do with him."
Roman didn't argue.
That somehow frightened her more.
Daniel left to make calls.
Roman poured Harper a glass of water.
She didn't drink it.
"Take the job."
She stared at him.
"Are you seriously negotiating employment right now?"
"No."
"It sounded exactly like that."
"I'm telling you that staying near my mother gives my security team a legitimate reason to protect you without turning your life into a surveillance operation."
Harper folded her arms.
"And the triple salary?"
"Still stands."
"You're unbelievable."
"So I've been told."
Beatrice raised her hand.
Both of them stopped.
She signed.
I want Harper.
Harper softened.
Roman pointed toward his mother.
"That's the actual employer."
Beatrice signed again.
Harper laughed despite herself.
"What?"
"She says you're only the wallet."
Roman looked offended.
By midnight, Harper had agreed to one week.
Only one.
The next morning changed that.
She arrived at breakfast expecting armed guards and secrets.
Instead, she found Beatrice in the kitchen arguing with a chef about toast.
Beatrice saw Harper and immediately signed:
Rescue me. He burns everything.
The chef protested.
"I can see you talking about me, Mrs. Moretti."
Harper laughed.
Something about the house became different when Beatrice had someone who could communicate with her effortlessly.
Meetings changed.
Staff members stopped addressing Roman instead of his mother.
Harper taught the housekeeper basic signs.
Then the chef.
Then two security officers.
Beatrice became louder without making a sound.
Roman noticed everything.
On Harper's fourth day, she found him standing in the doorway while she and Beatrice discussed flowers.
"What?"
Roman shook his head.
"Nothing."
"You're staring."
"My mother hasn't planned her own garden in years."
Harper glanced at Beatrice.
"Why not?"
Roman's answer was quiet.
"People got used to making decisions for her."
"Including you?"
His jaw tightened.
"Especially me."
It was the first time he'd admitted it.
Harper looked at him differently after that.
That evening, Daniel returned with information.
Northstar had digitized thousands of Moretti Development files six years earlier.
Leo Hayes had personally processed one specific collection.
Anthony Moretti's partnership records.
Harper sat across from Roman in the library.
"Why would anyone care now?"
Daniel placed a document on the desk.
"Because several files disappeared after Leo processed them."
"Are you saying he stole them?"
"No."
Roman picked up the report.
"We're saying someone removed them."
Harper felt defensive anyway.
"My brother wasn't a thief."
"I didn't say he was."
"Your face did."
Roman put the paper down.
"My face usually says worse things than I mean."
She almost smiled.
Almost.
Daniel continued.
"There's something else. Leo reported unauthorized access to Northstar's internal system two days before he died."
Harper stopped moving.
"What?"
"He filed an incident report."
"I never knew that."
"It was closed after his death."
"Why?"
"No evidence."
Harper stood.
"That's what everyone says when they don't want to keep looking."
Roman watched her.
She realized she'd raised her voice.
"Sorry."
"Don't be."
Daniel slid another page across the desk.
"The unauthorized login came from an account belonging to someone associated with Moretti Development."
Roman looked at the name.
His expression hardened.
Harper leaned forward.
"Who?"
Roman didn't answer.
She grabbed the paper.
The account belonged to Daniel Cross.
Harper slowly raised her eyes toward the man standing across from her.
Roman's trusted security chief.
Daniel Cross didn't move.
But his right hand quietly disappeared beneath his jacket.
May you like
And Roman saw it.
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