Page 41 of Even if You Fall

Briggs pointed at me as if in agreement. “We only have assumptions of why Vance and his wife are working in the schools. But from what we know about the Wreckers and from how high up Vance is in his family, this isn’t sitting right with me. We need to keep women from him if we can—which means Chloe.”

“Especially Chloe,” I corrected, surprising him. When Briggs just continued staring at me, I shrugged. “We already agreed we don’t think it has anything to do with the kids because Vance is so focused on all the female staff. Maybe he feels out the staff to see which ones he can push the furthest—like Chloe, this new woman, and whoever came before them.”

“And he has to be planning something with them,” Gray finished for me. We’d already spent so much time going over this Donut and hashing out theories, he probably could’ve said my entire speech for me.

“Especially Chloe,” Briggs agreed with a nod, then turned for the door, calling out, “Meeting over,” as he did.

Yanking it open, he took two steps before going still. Bending low, he scooped something off the floor, then slowly turned to look at the rest of us.

“Tell me someone left this on the floor,” he demanded as he took a step back into the conference room, holding up a little mailer. From here, all I could make of it was the red stampedUrgenton the front.

When silence settled over the room, giving our answers, Briggs glanced over his shoulder as tension seemed to radiate from him.

“Chloe isn’t the kind of person to leave things on the floor,” Rush said knowingly. “She heard something.”

“Need someone to talk to her,” Briggs said once he’d stepped fully into the conference room and let the door shut behind him, “figure out what she heard.”

“I’ll do it,” I said before anyone else could volunteer.

Briggs paused in opening the envelope to study me for a second, seeming to gauge whether I was the right person to do that, given how last week had gone. But even if questioning people wasn’t always what I did, getting a feel for people was.

And I selfishly didn’t want anyone else taking this.

“I can—” Rush began, only to stop when Briggs stilled for the second time in as many minutes, the contents of the mailer only partially removed. “What is it?”

Briggs stared at what little he could most likely see, a dark wrath seeping from him as he worked his jaw.

If I hadn’t been watching him so closely, waiting for any kind of hint as to what had been delivered to him, I wouldn’t have noticed the way his dark eyes momentarily darted in Evans’ direction.

But I did.

So I knew.

I was up and hurrying around the table before Briggs ever uttered a word. But his low, “Make sure she’s here,” as I passed him was all I needed to know I was right in my assumption.

Whatever was in that mailer was from the same mafia family we’d just been talking about.

Once I was out of the conference room, I stormed through the office, not bothering if anyone heard me. I wasn’t worried about anyone being up front, other than Chloe. I was just worried shewouldn’tbe.

But when I rounded the corner, she was there, staring at the pages of whatever book she was reading that day. Except it was obvious in the stiff way she was holding herself and from the sharp, short breaths she was taking that she wasn’t really seeing the words in front of her—that she was doing everything not to look at me.

“I know you heard me that time, Bubbles,” I said pointedly as I took a wide arc on the way around her desk, stopping to quietly lock the front door.

She shot me a bright yet mischievous look. “First time I’ve ever heard you coming up here. I figured if you were making that much noise, something must be wrong, but that isn’t my business.”

A hum of acknowledgment rumbled in my chest because I had a feeling that statement held so much truth...for her. Once I was behind the desk, I drew in a deep breath, taking in all that coconut and vanilla, then asked, “Who dropped off the mailer?”

Genuine surprise flashed in her eyes as she shifted back a bit as if she’d forgotten about the mailer completely. From the way she all but dropped her book on the desk and searched the surface as her already creamy skin paled, I had a feeling the placement of the mailer hadn’t been intentional.

That whatever she’d overheard had been enough to make her drop it and forget about it completely.

Like with Kaia’s bunny last weekend.

“U-um,” she began, then cleared her throat and let out a hesitant laugh before pinning me with a soft smile as her shoulders lifted in a shrug. “A courier. I’m not sure who.”

“Did he say anything? Make you sign anything?”

“Nope,” she said as that smile widened into something truly stunning. “Was I supposed to ask something? Sorry, it was my first package.”

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