Allari's POV
I didn't go straight home.
I found myself driving instead, no real destination in mind, just the quiet hum of the city passing by while I tried to untangle the knot that had settled in my chest somewhere between Helen's file room and that dinner table conversation about boardrooms. I ended up parked outside the office building longer than I needed to, engine off, staring at nothing in particular.
My phone buzzed again.
**Contact:** *One more thing. Helen's original recommendation came through an external referral — not HR, not your father's usual channels. Someone outside the company vouched for her personally. Still tracing who.*
I read it twice. That detail didn't sit right at all. My father was careful about who touched anything close to me during an active assignment
