Page 67 of Deadly Secrets

“Good night, princess.” Noah kissed my cheek before he left my room. That night, I dreamed about Zayn and Noah and how good it would feel if I could have them both.

* * *

I found myself rooted in front of Professor Reed’s office, my gaze tilting upward to the ceiling. My heart raced, and my palms felt clammy as I gathered the courage to knock on his door. After a deep, steadying breath, I turned my attention back to the door, raising my hand to deliver two hesitant knocks.

“Yes? Please come in.” He seemed surprised to see me. I closed the door and stood at the entrance of his office. “What a nice surprise. Please sit. What can I do for you?” he asked, waving his hands toward one of the chairs.

“I don’t know where to start, so I guess I’ll just let it out.”

Professor Reed arched a single eyebrow, evidently caught off guard by my statement.

“Why didn’t you say you worked for my father?”

He reclined back on his chair, linking his hands together in front of him.

“I didn’t think it mattered. Why do you ask?” His face showed no expression.

“I came across some documents, and your name was on one of them.” I didn’t want to mention what kind of documents, at least not until I had a chance to speak with Peter and Michael.

“Well, yes. I worked at Cos Pharmaceuticals for several years, but they made my team redundant, so I took the opportunity for a career change.” I could sense he wasn’t telling me everything, so I tried pulling more answers from him.

“Redundant? Why?” I asked.

“Budget restrictions, I guess. They said they had to size down the R&D department, so I was let go.”

“You could have said something when you realized who I was. Why didn’t you?” Professor Reed looked to his left and took a long breath before responding.

“I thought you might be tired of hearing everyone expressing their condolences, and I didn’t want to contribute to that weight by sharing mine. It didn’t seem necessary.” There was a long silence before he continued talking, not so subtly changing the subject. “Have you heard from the police department?”

I briefed him on the most recent developments in the investigation. Officer Johnson, the investigator assigned to my case, had made some headway, although everything at this point was still speculative.

“I hope they catch the culprit soon. I don’t want one of my best students getting distracted or worse.”

“I hope so, too. Anyway, thanks for your time, Professor.”

“No need to thank me. My door is always open for you.”

I walked out of his office with a weird feeling. Chatting with him stirred up bitter memories from last summer and the struggle to keep moving forward. I wanted to make the right call about William Scott, and my gut told me there might be more to his sudden interest in the company. So I was determined to dig deeper and figure things out before making my decision. Maybe he had some leverage, which was why he held those confidential documents. It would be easier if he’d just come clean about why he left the company, but when it came to Mr. Scott, simplicity was never part of the equation.

* * *

“Hi, Peter. Hi, Michael. Thank you for taking the time to speak with me.”

After I left Professor Reed’s office last week, I emailed the CFO and COO at Cos Pharmaceuticals to schedule a meeting. I was sitting in Zayn and Ander’s living room with my laptop in front of me, my screen displaying two exhausted faces on Zoom.

“Hi, Sienna. Gosh, you’ve grown up!” Michael exclaimed. “I’m glad to hear from you. Peter here has told me you’re now in college. Congratulations on being accepted at Stanford. Your father would be very proud.”

My stomach churned at the mention of my dad, but I managed to push down the bitter taste rising in my mouth and forced a hesitant smile.

“Thank you for your kind words, Michael,” I responded.

“You didn’t say much in your email. What is it you wanted to talk about?” Peter was always straight to the point, and I really appreciated it this time. I had no desire to give Michael yet another opportunity to offer his condolences. His sympathy had already been abundantly shared during the funeral, and I was eager to avoid revisiting that day.

“Yes. So…okay. I stumbled upon a set of documents that reference extra budget allocations for five R&D projects, all of which were approved by my father. Strangely, these particular projects weren’t included in the summarized report, which accounted for all of the therapies in our R&D pipeline. Can you send me further details on these? I’ll share their INNs and project codes with you to make them easier to identify. I’ve pasted the info in the chat.”

A couple of minutes later, Peter broke the silence. “Where did you find these documents?” His tone was sharp.

“It doesn’t matter. Do you know something about it?” Both men were clearly uncomfortable with my inquiry.

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