Chapter 4 - The Photograph
884 Words
Rain hammered the glass hard enough to blur the city into streaks of white and red.
Elena didn't move.
Across the street, beneath the dead streetlamp, the figure still stood there.
Motionless.
Watching.
Watching her.
Watching the building.
The photograph pressed against the glass beside his face shifted slightly beneath the rain.
Her face.
Her coat.
Her hair pulled back.
Three mornings ago.
Outside Falkenrath Global.
A pulse struck hard against her throat.
No.
No, no
A bus rolled through the intersection below.
Two seconds.
Three.
The figure vanished behind it.
Elena leaned forward.
Headlights flashed.
Cars moved.
Pedestrians crossed beneath umbrellas.
The streetlamp came back into view.
Empty.
Gone.
Her fingers tightened around her phone.
"Elena."
The sound of her name cut through the silence.
Her head turned sharply.
Henrik stood beside her.
Close again.
Far too close.
She hadn't heard him move.
That irritated her immediately.
His gray eyes stayed on her face.
Not on the windows.
Not on the street.
Her.
"What happened?"
She looked away first.
Bad decision.
Because now she looked guilty.
Wonderful.
"Nothing."
Silence.
Henrik said nothing.
Didn't repeat himself.
Didn't push.
He simply watched.
Elena suddenly understood why executives looked uncomfortable around him.
He didn't force answers out of people.
He waited.
People filled silence because silence became unbearable.
And she refused to become one of those people.
She slipped the phone into her bag.
"I should go."
Nothing.
"I'm serious."
Nothing.
Her irritation climbed.
"Do you only speak when it benefits you?"
His eyes shifted slightly.
"You looked outside."
"So?"
"Your breathing changed."
Elena stared at him.
Rain crawled slowly behind his shoulders, tracing silver lines across the glass wall.
"You monitor breathing now?"
"No."
Silence.
Then:
"I pay attention."
Her jaw tightened.
Annoying man.
Dangerously annoying man.
He noticed too much.
Far too much.
Elena stepped around him and moved toward the boardroom doors.
She needed air.
Distance.
A taxi.
Something.
Behind her, footsteps followed.
Of course they did.
The executive floor outside looked nearly deserted now.
Most lights had dimmed automatically.
Rows of empty workstations stretched into shadows.
The building carried a strange quiet at night.
Almost hollow.
Elena walked toward the elevators.
Henrik remained beside her.
Not touching.
Not crowding.
Just there.
Like he'd already decided this was normal.
The elevator doors slid open.
She stepped inside.
Henrik followed.
Her eyebrows lifted.
"No."
Gray eyes looked down at her.
"No?"
"You don't need to escort me downstairs."
"I wasn't planning to."
The doors closed.
Silence dropped around them.
Fantastic.
Just fantastic.
Rainwater still clung to the shoulders of his black coat.
The scent of cedar and something darker drifted toward her again.
She focused on the floor numbers above the doors.
Thirty-four.
Thirty-three.
Thirty-two.
"I can handle myself," she said.
Henrik looked ahead.
"I didn't say otherwise."
Twenty-eight.
Twenty-seven.
Twenty-six.
Elena crossed her arms.
"Then why are you following me?"
His expression didn't shift.
"I'm leaving too."
Silence.
Damn him.
Twenty-three.
Twenty-two.
Her phone vibrated.
Everything inside her went still.
Slowly, she looked down.
Unknown number.
Again.
Henrik noticed immediately.
Of course he did.
Her thumb moved across the screen.
One message.
No greeting.
No explanation.
**HE KNOWS YOU SAW ME.**
Cold pressure slid beneath her ribs.
Another vibration came instantly.
**DON'T GO HOME TONIGHT.**
Elena's breathing stalled.
The elevator suddenly felt too small.
Too warm.
Too enclosed.
Henrik looked at her.
His eyes narrowed slightly.
"What happened?"
"It's nothing."
Lie.
Obvious lie.
Terrible lie.
She knew it.
He knew it.
Silence.
Twenty.
Nineteen.
Eighteen.
His eyes stayed on her face.
Steady.
Watching.
Waiting.
Her stomach tightened.
"I said it's"
"Nothing?"
The word landed flat.
No anger.
No accusation.
Worse.
Because he already knew.
Elena looked away.
The elevator doors opened into the underground parking level.
Cold air rushed inside.
She stepped out immediately.
Concrete pillars stretched through the garage beneath harsh white lighting.
Rows of expensive cars sat untouched in polished silence.
Footsteps echoed behind her.
Henrik again.
She spun around.
"Stop following me."
He stopped.
Actually stopped.
Gray eyes met hers.
"Show me the phone."
"No."
"Elena."
"No."
Silence.
Rainwater dripped somewhere in the distance.
Tiny sounds bounced through the garage.
Neither moved.
Neither looked away.
Then Henrik spoke quietly.
"Someone entered my company tonight."
Her eyebrows pulled together.
"He left information about you inside my office."
A pause.
"You receive anonymous messages."
Another pause.
"And now you're frightened."
"I'm not frightened."
His eyes held hers.
Long enough for heat to crawl into her face.
Because she heard it.
The lie.
Again.
Damn it.
A sound cut sharply through the garage.
Click.
Elena turned immediately.
Nothing.
Just rows of vehicles.
Concrete.
Shadows.
Silence.
Then,
Click.
Her stomach tightened.
Henrik moved slightly.
Barely.
Positioning himself between her and the darker end of the garage.
The movement happened so naturally she almost missed it.
Almost.
Her eyes lifted toward him.
He stared ahead.
Expression gone cold.
Completely cold.
"What was that?" she whispered.
No answer.
Silence stretched.
Then footsteps.
Slow.
Measured.
Not theirs.
Coming from somewhere between the parked cars.
One.
Two.
Three.
Elena's fingers curled tightly around her bag.
Another step echoed.
Then another.
A shape moved between the vehicles.
Dark clothing.
Tall.
Male.
The figure stopped beneath the overhead lights.
Smiled.
And lifted a second photograph.
Not of Elena.
Of Henrik.
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