Prologue
The first time I noticed them, I thought I was imagining it.
There was nothing unusual about either of them.
Victoria Hart sat three rows ahead during quarterly meetings and took notes in neat, organized columns.
Daniel Reed preferred standing near the back of the conference room, looking relaxed even when he was paying attention.
They barely spoke.
They never lingered near each other.
They didn’t share lunches.
They didn’t leave together.
If anything, they seemed indifferent.
That was what everyone else saw.
What everyone else missed was the space between things.
The half-second pauses.
The stolen glances.
The way Victoria’s eyes searched for him the moment she entered a room before she deliberately looked somewhere else.
The way Daniel always knew where she was without appearing to look.
Tiny details. Meaningless on their own.
Impossible to ignore once you noticed them.
I started paying attention.
At first, it was curiosity. Then it became a habit. Eventually, it became something else.
A folder sat open on my desktop. Inside were dozens of photographs. Most of them were useless.
Victoria leaving the building.
Daniel arriving in the parking garage.
A company dinner.
A conference.
An elevator.
Nothing inappropriate. Nothing that would raise suspicion. Nothing that proved anything.
Not yet.
I clicked through them slowly.
Photo after photo.
Then I stopped.
It had been taken during a budget meeting three weeks ago.
The room was crowded. People were talking. Someone was presenting slides. Nobody was paying attention. Except Daniel.
His gaze was fixed on Victoria. Not for long, less than a second, but long enough.
Long enough to forget himself. Long enough for me to capture it.
My jaw tightened.
I zoomed in.
Victoria wasn’t looking at him. She was looking down at her notes. But there was a faint smile on her lips.
The kind of smile people wore when they were thinking about something they shouldn’t. Or someone.
I closed the image and opened a blank message.
My fingers hovered over the keyboard.
For months, I had watched.
For months, I had collected pieces.
For months, I had waited.
No more.
Then I smiled.
Soon, they would realize they weren’t as careful as they thought.
Soon, they would understand that someone was watching.
Someone who saw everything.
Someone who knew.
I typed two simple words and hit send.
I know.
