He Kept My Secret at the Wrong Table, but Three Days Later He Stood Up to Steal My Father’s Entire Life

Crystal chandeliers cast a golden glow over three hundred men and women in tailored tuxedos and designer evening gowns.

Hannah walked through the grand archway, gliding past the tuxedoed security guards before anyone thought to question her presence. She held her chin high, radiating an easy confidence that kept the waitstaff handing her glasses of champagne.

On a raised dais across the marble floor stood Richard Rowan.

He was a thick-set man of sixty, with slicked-back silver hair, cold blue eyes, and a predatory smile that never reached his face. Beside him, holding a champagne flute with an expression of quiet disgust, was Caleb.

Caleb looked striking in a custom black tuxedo, but his eyes were constantly scanning the room like a soldier in hostile territory.

When his eyes landed on Hannah in the emerald gown, he nearly dropped his glass.

He excused himself from a cluster of city councilmen and moved smoothly across the room, intercepting her beside a marble pillar.

"What are you doing here?" he whispered, his hand lightly touching the small of her back to guide her behind a large floral arrangement. "Richard has private security all over the building. If they find you with those files—"

"You gave me the files, Caleb," Hannah said, looking up into his eyes, her pulse thumping wildly in her throat. "Did you think I was going to let you walk into the firing squad alone?"

Caleb’s expression softened, a sudden, breath-stopping tenderness softening the hard lines around his mouth.

"You look stunning, Hannah," he murmured quietly.

"Don't change the subject, Mr. Rowan."

"I'm not changing the subject," he said, stepping an inch closer. "My presentation starts in five minutes. I'm supposed to introduce the Mercer Wharf revitalization project to the lead investors."

"And what were you actually planning to put on that screen?"

Caleb tapped his lapel pocket. "A live transmission to the United States Attorney’s Office in Boston. But Richard switched the master laptop fifteen minutes ago. He locked me out of the main AV console."

Hannah smiled, a sharp, fierce flash of teeth that made Caleb blink.

"Good thing you're talking to a woman who once broke into an ER medication dispenser with a butter knife when the system went down," Hannah said coolly.

"You did what?"

"Show me where the audiovisual tech booth is."

Caleb stared at her for two seconds, a slow, genuine smile spreading across his face for the first time since they had met at table 13.