Chapter 2 - THE WOMAN INSIDE THE CIRCLE
“The investors are downstairs.”
Arthur looked at Leo as if the investors had personally offended him.
“How many?”
“All of them.”
Paige checked the clock.
“Twenty-three minutes until the presentation.”
Arthur’s gaze moved to her.
His tie was hanging crookedly beneath his open collar.
“Cancel it.”
“No.”
Every man in the room looked at Paige.
Arthur slowly turned toward her.
“No?”
Paige rose from her desk.
“You've spent seven months negotiating this contract. If you cancel six minutes after your competitors hear something happened at the docks, they won't assume you're busy. They'll assume you're weak.”
Leo made the smallest possible movement with his eyebrows.
Arthur noticed.
“You agree with her?”
“I enjoy breathing.”
Paige picked up Arthur’s presentation folder.
“Then we have twenty-two minutes.”
Arthur looked down at his trembling hands.
That was when Paige understood.
It was not anger.
Something at the docks had triggered him.
His fingers simply would not obey him.
She stepped closer.
One foot.
Two.
Three.
Nobody moved.
“Paige.”
It was the first time Arthur had used her first name.
She looked up.
“If you want me to stop, say so.”
He could have.
Instead, Arthur remained perfectly still.
Paige loosened the ruined knot, straightened his collar and retied the dark burgundy silk.
Her knuckles brushed his throat.
Arthur inhaled sharply.
For one terrible second, a restaurant kitchen replaced the boardroom.
Patrick's arms.
Patrick's voice.
The sudden pressure below his ribs.
Blood.
Then Arthur saw Paige.
Brown eyes.
A tiny crease between her brows.
No weapon.
No betrayal.
Just a woman fixing something that was crooked.
“There.”
Paige flattened the tie.
“You look terrifying again.”
Leo coughed to hide a laugh.
Arthur stared at Paige.
“Everybody out.”
The room emptied instantly.
Paige reached for her tablet.
“Not you.”
The door closed.
Arthur stood motionless.
“Why did you do that?”
“Your tie was crooked.”
“People don't touch me.”
“I've noticed.”
“You know what happened to Jimmy.”
“You scared him badly enough that he stopped drinking at lunch. Personally, I consider that an HR success.”
Arthur almost smiled.
Almost.
Then his expression hardened.
“You shouldn't have done it.”
Paige nodded.
“Probably not.”
“You're not afraid of me?”
She considered lying.
“No.”
Arthur's eyes narrowed.
“That either makes you very brave or very stupid.”
“Those aren't mutually exclusive.”
His mouth twitched.
Then Paige noticed something strange.
A tiny red light blinked above the smoked-glass conference wall.
The security camera.
Arthur followed her gaze.
His expression changed.
“Leo.”
The door opened almost immediately.
Arthur pointed upward.
“Who has access to that feed?”
Leo's face tightened.
“Security.”
“Only security?”
“And executive systems.”
Arthur looked toward Paige.
Someone had seen her enter the circle.
He knew immediately what that meant.
For years, enemies had tried to determine what Arthur Gallagher valued.
Money?
He could make more.
Warehouses?
He could rebuild them.
Men?
He trusted very few.
Family?
He had none left.
Now a camera had recorded him allowing a woman to stand close enough to kill him.
“Delete the footage,” Arthur ordered.
Leo nodded.
Paige frowned.
“Why?”
Neither man answered.
Arthur crossed the room.
“Go downstairs. Give Reynolds the revised presentation.”
“Arthur—”
“Now.”
She heard it then.
Fear.
Not for himself.
For her.
Paige took the folder and left.
Twenty minutes later, Arthur walked into the ballroom looking exactly like the man Chicago expected.
Cold.
Controlled.
Untouchable.
Nobody noticed the shaking had stopped.
Nobody except Paige.
And nobody noticed the waiter near the back doors lift his phone and photograph Arthur glancing toward her three separate times.
By midnight, the picture had reached Vincent Rourke.
Rourke studied it inside a private club on the opposite side of Chicago.
Arthur Gallagher stood surrounded by businessmen.
But his eyes were on one woman.
Rourke smiled.
“Who is she?”
His lieutenant checked the message.
“Paige Bennett. Executive assistant.”
“Family?”
“Mother. Margaret Bennett. Memory-care facility in Oak Park.”
Rourke's smile disappeared.
“Interesting.”
Across town, Paige arrived at the facility carrying a paper bag containing her mother's favorite lemon cookies.
Margaret sat near a window.
“Mom?”
Margaret looked up.
For three seconds, nothing happened.
Then her face brightened.
“Paige.”
Those moments were becoming rarer.
Paige swallowed the ache in her throat.
“Hi, Mom.”
Margaret touched her daughter's cheek.
“You look tired.”
“I work for a difficult man.”
“Handsome?”
Paige laughed despite herself.
“Unfortunately.”
Margaret smiled.
Then she looked toward the window.
Her smile vanished.
A black sedan was parked across the street.
“Paige.”
“Yes?”
Margaret gripped her wrist with surprising strength.
“That man came back.”
Paige froze.
“What man?”
Margaret's eyes filled with confusion.
“The one who asked about Arthur.”
Paige's heart stopped.
“How do you know Arthur?”
Margaret stared at her.
Then whispered a name Paige had never heard her mother say.
“Patrick.”
Paige leaned closer.
“Patrick who?”
Margaret's fingers began trembling.
“Doyle.”
Outside, the black sedan pulled away.
And inside Gallagher Tower, Arthur received a photograph on his private phone.
Paige entering the memory-care facility.
Below it were six words.
Now I know where to hurt you.
Arthur stared at the screen.
Then he reached for his coat.
May you like
For the first time in five years, the three-foot rule no longer felt like protection.
It felt like a target painted around the only person who had ever crossed it.
