Chapter 18 - ELIAS HAD HIRED THE MAN WHO TOOK KAYLA’S BEDROOM PHOTOGRAPH
Elias did not deny it.
Kayla confronted him with hospital counsel present.
Gunther was not in the room.
Her choice.
Elias sat across from her.
“I hired Baines.”
Kayla’s stomach turned.
“Why?”
“To investigate the grant.”
“What?”
“Before you found it.”
She froze.
Elias continued.
“I noticed unusual funding restrictions eight months ago.”
“You knew Woods money was involved?”
“I suspected.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because I had no proof.”
“That has become everyone’s favorite excuse.”
He flinched.
Fair.
“I knew what your history was with hidden financial intervention.”
“So you investigated me?”
“No.”
“Gunther.”
“Victor.”
“Foundation structures.”
Kayla’s eyes hardened.
“And my apartment?”
Elias went pale.
“I never authorized that.”
“Baines used a contractor credential.”
“I didn’t know.”
“Why did he need my address?”
“He didn’t.”
“So how did he get it?”
Elias looked genuinely sick.
“I don’t know.”
The police found the answer.
Baines had been working two clients.
Elias paid him to investigate the funding.
Someone else paid him to collect private material on Kayla and Gunther.
The second client still hidden behind shell companies.
Elias had created the access.
Unintentionally.
But access nonetheless.
Kayla left the meeting furious.
Gunther waited outside.
He stood when he saw her.
“Well?”
“He hired Baines.”
Gunther’s jaw tightened.
“But not for the photograph.”
“Do you believe him?”
“Yes.”
Gunther looked surprised.
“Why?”
“Because financial records support it.”
Evidence.
Not instinct.
Gunther nodded.
Then Kayla said, “He was trying to protect me.”
Gunther’s expression changed.
She saw.
“Don’t.”
“I didn’t say anything.”
“Your face did.”
Gunther stared toward Elias’s office.
“He hired a private investigator to dig through my financial structures because he thought I was secretly manipulating your career.”
“And he was partly right.”
That silenced him.
Victor had done exactly that.
Not Gunther.
But Woods money had entered.
Gunther breathed out.
“I still dislike him.”
“That is allowed.”
Good.
That evening, Elias came to Kayla’s office.
Door open.
“I’m resigning.”
She looked up.
“What?”
“I crossed a line.”
“You made a mistake.”
“Yes.”
“That doesn’t automatically mean you should quit.”
“The board disagrees.”
“Did they ask?”
“No.”
“Then don’t make their decision for them.”
Elias laughed faintly.
“You sound like him.”
Kayla’s eyes narrowed.
“Take that back.”
He smiled.
Then became serious.
“I care about you.”
There.
Kayla stopped.
Elias looked away.
“I wasn’t going to say it.”
“Then why now?”
“Because I don’t want this investigation to make it look like I did all of this because I expected something from you.”
“Did you?”
“No.”
He met her eyes.
“I have feelings for you.”
“I also know you love Gunther.”
Kayla swallowed.
“Elias—”
“You don’t have to answer anything.”
“I do.”
He looked at her.
“I care about you.”
“As my friend.”
His expression tightened but he nodded.
“Yes.”
“I’m with Gunther.”
“I know.”
“And if I weren’t?”
Elias almost smiled.
“That would be a cruel question.”
“You’re right.”
Kayla sighed.
“I’m sorry.”
“No.”
“You were clear.”
He stood.
At the door, Elias paused.
“He scares me sometimes.”
Kayla’s face hardened.
“Gunther?”
“Yes.”
“Not physically.”
“The power.”
“The history.”
“The way everyone in a room changes when he enters.”
Kayla looked down.
“That scares me too.”
Elias turned.
“Then why stay?”
Because he changed.
Because he asked.
Because he accepted no.
Because he loved her.
Those were all true.
Kayla answered differently.
“Because fear isn’t the only thing I feel.”
Elias nodded.
Outside the office, Gunther stood thirty feet away.
He had arrived early.
He heard only the last two lines.
He scares me too.
Then why stay?
Because fear isn’t the only thing I feel.
Gunther walked away before hearing anything else.
May you like
For the first time, he wondered whether Kayla was still with him because love had become entangled with fear so deeply she could no longer separate them.
And that possibility terrified him more than losing her.
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