They do.
Her phone vibrated suddenly.
One bar.
A message from Daniel.
WHERE ARE YOU?
She typed with shaking fingers.
Hotel. Ballroom mezzanine. Two men. Device in electrical room.
Three dots appeared instantly.
STAY HIDDEN.
For once, Mia did not argue.
Below, one of the men cursed.
“She called someone.”
The other said, “Find her.”
Mia looked around the dark mezzanine.
No exit except the stairs.
No weapon except a brass curtain rod leaning against the wall.
She picked it up.
It was heavier than it looked.
Good.
If she was going to die in a half-renovated ballroom, she was at least going to be inconvenient.
Then all the lights went out.
For one terrible second, the hotel was black.
Then red emergency lights flickered on.
The men below stopped moving.
A calm voice echoed through the ballroom speakers.
Daniel.
“This building is sealed.”
Mia closed her eyes.
Relief hit so hard her knees almost gave out.
Daniel continued, voice low and terrifyingly controlled.
“There are twelve cameras on you. Four exits locked. Police have been notified. If you climb the mezzanine stairs, I will consider that a personal insult.”
Silence.
Then running.
Not toward Mia.
Away.
The ballroom doors burst open.
Men moved fast in the red light.
Jason’s voice shouted orders.
Mia stayed where she was until Daniel himself appeared at the top of the stairs.
He was not wearing a suit jacket. His shirt sleeves were rolled up. His expression was calm, but his eyes were not.
“Mia.”
Just her first name.
Not Miss Carter.
Not designer.
Mia.
She tried to stand with dignity.
Her legs disagreed.
Daniel reached her before she hit the floor.
For a moment, she was back on the train, leaning against him with no strength left to pretend.
Only this time, she was awake.
“I found your device,” she whispered.
“I know.”
“I did not approve that installation.”
Despite everything, something almost like laughter passed through his face.
“No,” he said. “I assumed.”
Her hands were shaking.
She hated that.
Daniel noticed.
Of course he noticed.
But he did not comment.
He only took off his coat and wrapped it around her shoulders.
“I had it handled,” he said softly.
Mia looked up at him.
“You always say that like it means nobody gets hurt.”
His jaw tightened.
She saw then what he had been hiding all along.
Not power.
Fear.
Not for himself.
For anyone who came close enough to be used against him.
“I should never have let you stay on this project,” he said.
Mia pulled the coat tighter.
“Do not make my decisions sound like your guilt.”
He looked at her.
“I put you in danger.”
“Yes.”
The honesty struck him.
“But I stayed,” she said. “And I’m tired of men deciding that protecting me means removing me from rooms where I have work to do.”
Daniel looked away.
Below them, police officers entered the ballroom. Jason spoke with them. Vince Carrow was brought through the lobby in handcuffs, face pale and furious.
The other man had been caught near the service entrance.
Evelyn arrived minutes later, hair loose, coat thrown over pajamas, looking ready to personally dismantle the entire subcontracting industry.
“Are you hurt?” she asked Mia.
“No.”
“Are you lying?”
“A little.”
Evelyn turned to Daniel.
“You owe her hazard pay.”
Daniel did not blink.
“She can name the amount.”
Mia managed a weak smile.
“In writing?”
“Of course.”
The investigation revealed the sabotage had been arranged by a competitor tied to investors who wanted Daniel’s hotel opening to fail. Nothing glamorous. Nothing dramatic in the way people imagine crime.
