Heiress Recon

She used her key to unlock the door and turned on the overhead lights. Directly ahead of them was the receptionist’s desk, and behind that desk was the door leading to Brandon’s inner sanctum.

She went to that door and opened it, then flipped on the light, conscious of Troy following right behind her.

For a moment the scent in the room caused a stabbing pain to pierce her heart. It smelled like her dad—a blend of his cologne, the mints he loved to chew and the faint aroma of the cigars he occasionally sneaked.

“Are you okay?” Troy asked softly.

She was vaguely surprised to realize that he was sensitive enough to know that being here might be difficult for her.

Nodding, she moved to the desk. “I’m fine,” she said, but she wasn’t fine. She was scared, more frightened than she’d ever been in her life. “I just want to find something, anything that will make sense of what’s happening.” She pulled open the top drawer but before she could look at the contents Troy grabbed her by the arm.

“Wait.” He moved her to the side and withdrew a large manila envelope from the drawer.

“What’s that?” It was obvious by the way he held it close to his chest that he knew what was inside.

His lips compressed together into a thin line as his gray eyes darkened. “It’s pictures of you. Your father showed them to me the other day when I was here.”

“Pictures of me? Let me see them.”

Reluctantly he pulled the photos out of the envelope and handed them to her. “It’s why he hired me to watch over you,” he explained.

There was no question that the vision of her pictures crossed out with bright red marker was disturbing. She set them on the top of the desk, her fingers trembling slightly. “And Dad thought this somehow had to do with the mall development?”

Troy nodded. “He thought it was a warning that he should shut down his plans for the mall or somebody might try to hurt you.”

Without warning she was filled with an enormous sense of grief coupled with a crushing guilt. She dropped the pictures to the top of the desk as tears half blinded her. Not thinking, functioning only on her need to be held, she walked into Troy’s arms.