Chapter 6 - The Cost of Getting CloseDating the founder's daughter while secretly investigating a multimillion-dollar fraud involving my supervisor was not part of my 5-year plan.
Technically, Olivia and I weren't dating.
We established that repeatedly.
Usually immediately before doing things people who weren't dating generally didn't do.
Coffee before work.
Dinner afterward.
Sunday mornings walking through Freedom Park.
Her toothbrush appearing in my bathroom.
My spare key appearing on her key ring.
“This feels suspiciously like dating,” I said one morning.
Olivia looked over her coffee.
“Don't ruin it.”
So I didn't.
For the first time in years, someone occupied space in my life without making me want to reclaim it.
That frightened me more than the investigation.
Then everything collapsed.
Monday morning, compliance officers entered my department.
By 10:00, I was suspended.
By 10:15, every employee knew.
$1.2 million had been transferred through an unauthorized account connected to Halcyon.
The approval credentials belonged to me.
My login.
My authentication token.
My digital signature.
Impossible.
Except it wasn't.
Martin had access to historical credentials and internal systems.
But knowing that and proving it were different things.
Charles could not intervene without compromising the investigation.
I understood.
Understanding didn't make it hurt less.
Security escorted me from the building.
Employees watched.
Some looked sympathetic.
Others looked satisfied.
Scandal always gave ordinary people entertainment.
Olivia followed me into the lobby.
“Daniel.”
“Don't.”
She stopped.
“Don't what?”
“Not here.”
“I don't care who sees.”
“I do.”
That was partly true.
The other truth was uglier.
For the first time since this began, I wondered whether being close to Olivia had destroyed the career I spent my entire adult life building.
She saw something in my face.
“You regret it.”
“No.”
“You hesitated.”
“Olivia—”
“Do you regret helping me?”
“No.”
“Do you regret me?”
I couldn't answer fast enough.
Her eyes filled.
She stepped back.
“That answers it.”
“It doesn't.”
But she walked away.
I spent the next 2 days angry at Martin.
Then at Charles.
Then at myself.
My father listened without interrupting.
When I finished, he said, “You're an idiot.”
“Thanks.”
“Not about work.”
I stared at him.
He continued.
“You think keeping people outside your life means they can't hurt you.”
“I didn't say that.”
“You've been saying it since you were 9.”
That landed harder than I expected.
“Olivia isn't your mother.”
“I know.”
“Do you?”
Silence.
My father leaned forward.
“Your mother leaving taught you the wrong lesson, son.”
“What lesson should it have taught me?”
“That somebody leaving can hurt like hell and you can still survive it.”
I looked down.
He continued.
“That's different from never letting anybody stay.”
The next morning, Rebecca called.
They found evidence Martin had cloned my credentials.
But Martin was gone.
His house was empty.
His company phone had been abandoned.
And $900,000 had moved overnight from one of the shell companies to an offshore account.
Rebecca believed he was running.
Olivia believed otherwise.
“Martin isn't the top.”
We met at a coffee shop away from the office.
It was the first time I had seen her since our argument.
She looked tired.
“You were right,” I said.
“About?”
“I was scared.”
She waited.
“I didn't regret you.”
“Past tense?”
I almost smiled.
“I don't regret you.”
Her expression softened slightly.
“I spent my whole life believing distance was the same thing as safety.”
“And?”
“It isn't.”
“No.”
“I hurt you.”
“Yes.”
“I'm sorry.”
She stared into her coffee.
Then her hand moved across the table.
Palm up.
I took it.
No dramatic speech.
No instant forgiveness.
Just her fingers closing around mine.
Then Olivia slid a flash drive toward me.
“What's this?”
“Something Madison sent me.”
I looked at her.
“Your former best friend?”
“She wants immunity.”
“For what?”
Olivia swallowed.
“She wasn't sleeping with Grant because she loved him.”
“What?”
“Grant paid her.”
I stared.
“Why?”
“To get close to me.”
The betrayal had not started with an affair.
May you like
It had started as surveillance.
And according to Madison, Grant had been planning it for almost 2 years.
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