Chapter 26 - CALEB SENT KAYLA PROOF THAT GUNTHER HAD KNOWN HER NAME YEARS BEFORE THEY MET
Kayla read the report three times.
Samuel Hughes.
Work history.
Medical appointments.
Legal consultations.
Family contact.
Kayla Hughes.
Address.
Employer.
Bankruptcy risk.
Transportation routes.
Photograph.
Four years before she became Gunther’s maid.
Gunther had always said he barely remembered Sam’s accident.
Always said he did not know Kayla before she worked at the estate.
The authorization looked real.
G. WOODS.
Her hands shook.
Caleb’s handwritten note contained one sentence.
Ask him how accidental your life really was.
Kayla did not call Gunther.
She called an attorney.
Then the forensic accounting firm they had used before.
Good.
Evidence first.
Emotion second.
The document was authentic.
That hurt.
Authorization code belonged to Gunther’s old executive security system.
The surveillance had been conducted by a contractor linked to Woods operations.
Kayla sat in the Seattle office after hours.
Elias found her.
“You okay?”
“No.”
He saw the report.
“Do you want me to stay?”
Kayla nodded.
Not romance.
Friendship.
He sat across from her.
She called Gunther.
“Were you monitoring Sam before I worked for you?”
Silence.
“What?”
She sent the report.
Gunther opened it.
His face changed on video.
“I’ve never seen this.”
Kayla closed her eyes.
Not enough.
He saw.
“Kayla.”
“The document is authentic.”
“I believe you.”
“Your authorization.”
“Yes.”
“Four years before I worked in your house.”
“Yes.”
“Do you remember ordering surveillance on Northstar workers?”
Gunther became very still.
There.
Memory.
“Yes.”
Kayla’s chest tightened.
“Tell me.”
“After Victor found trafficking, I ordered surveillance on anyone who may have known about unmanifested freight.”
“Sam?”
“I don’t remember individual names.”
“But his file was included.”
“Apparently.”
“And me?”
Gunther stared at her image.
“You were family contact.”
“So you did know my name.”
“Technically.”
Her face hardened.
“Don’t.”
He corrected.
“My system contained your name.”
“I did not know you.”
“Did Victor use that information later to place me in your house?”
Gunther froze.
“I don’t know.”
That was the worst answer.
Kayla hung up.
Not because she refused explanation.
Because there was none yet.
Gunther flew to Seattle the next morning.
After asking.
She agreed to meet in a conference room.
Not apartment.
Gunther brought Victor.
Kayla brought her attorney.
Good.
No intimacy replacing evidence.
Victor looked at report.
Went pale.
“I know this.”
Kayla stared.
“Did you place me at Gunther’s house because of it?”
Victor’s silence answered before words.
“Yes.”
Gunther turned.
“What?”
Victor looked destroyed.
“Sam was flagged as vulnerable after Northstar.”
“You knew Kayla was his sister.”
“Yes.”
“You referred her later.”
“Yes.”
Gunther’s face hardened.
“You told me you placed her because she needed insurance.”
“She did.”
“But you already knew her through surveillance.”
“Yes.”
Kayla stood.
Her chair scraped.
“So my job was not coincidence.”
“No.”
Victor’s voice broke.
“I thought I was helping.”
“Stop.”
He did.
Gunther looked at Kayla.
She looked at him.
“Did you know?”
“No.”
She believed him.
That did not save them.
Because the larger truth was worse.
Gunther’s system had watched her family.
Victor later used that information to shape her life.
Gunther had not personally chosen her.
But his empire had.
Kayla swallowed.
“I need space.”
Gunther’s face tightened.
“How much?”
“I don’t know.”
He nodded.
“When should I call?”
“I’ll call you.”
There.
Clear.
Gunther stood.
Did not touch her.
At the door, Kayla said, “Gunther.”
He turned.
“I believe you didn’t knowingly place me in your house.”
His expression softened.
Then she added:
“But I don’t know yet whether that changes how I feel about the fact that your world reached me years before you ever learned my face.”
Gunther nodded.
“That’s fair.”
He left.
May you like
For the first time, Kayla did not know whether choosing him again would feel like freedom.
Or whether every road leading to him had been built before she knew she was walking it.
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