Ava didn’t expect the office to feel different the next morning, but it did. Conversations paused when she walked by. A few coworkers glanced at her a second too long, trying to decide if she looked normal, troubled, or hiding something.
She ignored all of it and sat at her desk.
Lena arrived with two coffees and placed one beside her.
“You’re going to need this.”
Ava glanced at her. “How bad is it?”
“Not catastrophic yet.”
“That’s comforting.”
“It’s not meant to be comforting,” Lena said. “It’s meant to prepare you.”
Ava took a long drink and opened her inbox. No new warnings. No new threats. Just regular assignments and the usual clutter.
But that made her uneasy.
Silence meant someone was planning the next move.
Before she could focus, her editor, Maren, called from her office.
“Ava. I need a minute.”
Ava exchanged a look with Lena, picked up her laptop, and walked in.
Maren closed the door behind them.
“Sit.”
Ava did.
Maren folded her hands. “I got an email last night. Forwarded anonymously. It contained a photo of you.”
Ava’s stomach tightened. “Which one?”
“The one where you’re outside a café with Dominic Hale.”
Ava breathed out slowly. “I can explain.”
“I’m hoping you can,” Maren said. “Because someone clearly wants me to think you’ve compromised yourself.”
Ava leaned forward. “I haven’t.”
“I want to believe that,” Maren replied. “But I need the truth.”
Ava didn’t hesitate. “I went to meet him because he had information that could help the investigation. Nothing else.”
“And the picture looks like… what?”
Ava forced herself not to flinch. “Bad timing. A setup. Someone wanted that moment captured.”
Maren studied her face. “Do you trust him?”
Ava paused only a second. “More than I trust the person sending these photos.”
Maren sighed. “That’s not an ideal answer, but it wasn’t the wrong one.” She tapped a pen against the desk. “I’m going to keep this internal for now. But you need to be careful. If a second photo surfaces, I’ll have no choice but to escalate.”
Ava nodded. “I understand.”
Maren softened slightly. “I’m not here to scare you. I’m here to protect the integrity of your work.”
“I know.”
“And Ava?”
“Yes?”
“Don’t give whoever sent the photo what they want.”
Ava rose. “I won’t.”
She returned to her desk, tension gathering in her shoulders.
Lena whirled around. “What happened?”
Ava sighed. “Someone anonymously sent the picture to Maren.”
“Oh my god. What did she say?”
“She asked if I’m compromised.”
“And what did you tell her?”
“The truth.”
Lena looked at her closely. “Ava… are you?”
“No.”
“Then why don’t you sound confident?”
Ava rubbed her forehead. “Because the truth is getting harder to separate from everything else.”
Before Lena could answer, Ava’s phone vibrated.
Dominic.
She stepped into the hallway and answered quietly. “I’m at work.”
“I know.”
She froze. “What does that mean?”
“You’re tense,” he said. “I can hear it.”
Ava closed her eyes. “Someone sent the photo to my editor.”
Silence stretched on the other end.
Then Dominic’s voice shifted—lower, sharper. “Did she threaten your job?”
“No. But it won’t survive a second photo.”
“I’ll handle it.”
“No,” Ava said quickly. “You can’t intervene in my newsroom.”
“I’m not planning to touch your newsroom.”
“Dominic—”
“Ava,” he said, voice steady, “whoever sent that photo did it to isolate you. They want you to pull back. They want you to lose support.”
“And?”
“And I’m not going to let them succeed.”
Ava leaned against the wall. “You can’t protect me from every angle.”
“I know.”
“Then what are you doing?”
A beat of silence. Then:
“The part I can do.”
Ava didn’t respond.
Dominic added, “There’s something you need to see. It’s about the group watching you.”
“Which group?”
“Both.”
A chill ran through her. “Where?”
“I’ll send a location. Meet me when you can.”
Ava swallowed. “This is escalating too fast.”
“It was already escalating,” he said. “You’re just seeing it now.”
Ava lowered her voice. “Dominic… this could cost me my job.”
“Then let me be absolutely clear,” he said quietly.
Ava waited.
“You’re not the one who should be afraid of consequences.”
Ava didn’t leave the office immediately. She needed time to think, but the newsroom wasn’t giving her any room to breathe. Every phone ring, every keyboard click, every distant conversation felt louder than usual.
She stared at the latest email again.
“Distance is safer.”
She knew exactly what it meant now. It wasn’t about stepping away from the story. It was about stepping away from Dominic.
Someone believed she would pull back because of him.
Someone believed she was becoming a risk.
Maybe they were right.
She packed her bag slowly and stood.
Lena watched her. “You’re going.”
“Yeah.”
“You okay?”
“No.”
“Do you need—”
“I don’t know what I need,” Ava said. “But sitting here isn’t helping.”
Lena nodded softly. “Call me if you need backup.”
Ava gave her a thin smile and left.
Outside, the sidewalk was crowded, but she felt strangely alone moving through it. Her phone buzzed as she reached the corner.
A location pin.
Dominic had sent it.
She followed the map two blocks west, then south. It led her to a quiet building with tinted windows—a private office, not corporate, not commercial, something between.
She hesitated at the entrance before pushing the door open.
Dominic was inside, standing next to a small table with several documents spread across it. Not business files—security reports, movement logs, street camera stills.
He looked up when she entered.
“Ava.”
She closed the door behind her. “What is this place?”
“A contracted security office,” he said. “Not tied directly to my company.”
“Meaning?”
“Meaning whoever’s watching you won’t expect us here.”
Ava stepped closer to the table. “What did you want to show me?”
Dominic handed her a document. “Timeline of activity around your apartment. The warehouse. The café.”
Ava read the first page.
Her breath shifted.
“This is… weeks ago.”
“Yes.”
“Someone was watching me before I ever touched the Hale Dynamics filings.”
“Yes.”
Ava tightened her grip on the paper. “So this has nothing to do with me investigating your company.”
“It has everything to do with who inside the company is afraid of being exposed.”
She looked up sharply. “So they went after me before I even got close.”
Dominic nodded.
“And you didn’t know?”
“Not until yesterday.”
Ava stared at him. “And now that you do?”
Something flickered in his expression. “Now I’m not letting it continue.”
Before Ava could speak, he handed her a second document.
“This is the part you need to see most.”
Ava scanned it—
Unknown entity.
Unregistered access.
Contact with private security.
Request: “Monitor the reporter.”
Her pulse jumped.
“This request… it’s from inside your company.”
“Yes.”
“Who?”
“We don’t know yet,” Dominic said. “But the authorization stamp is from someone high enough to make it invisible.”
Ava closed her eyes. “They wanted to watch me before I even knew there was a story.”
Dominic stepped closer.
“Ava.”
She didn’t look at him.
“Ava,” he said again, softer this time.
She finally lifted her head.
“This isn’t about your reporting,” he said. “This isn’t about what you wrote. This started before anything you did.”
She swallowed. “So I was targeted for being near the truth before I even found the truth?”
“Yes.”
Her fingers trembled slightly around the papers.
Dominic’s voice lowered. “And that’s exactly why I’m not letting you handle this alone.”
Ava forced a breath out. “You can’t keep saying that. You can’t keep doing this.”
“Why not?”
“Because it pulls me into something I didn’t choose.”
“You didn’t choose the danger,” he said. “But you’re already in it.”
“That doesn’t mean—”
“It does,” he said quietly.
He stepped even closer—close enough that she felt his presence before she felt his breath.
“Ava,” he said, “I’m not leaving you exposed.”
“You can’t keep protecting me.”
“I can,” he said, “and I will.”
Ava shook her head slowly. “You don’t understand. This affects my job. My credibility. My future.”
“I know.”
“Then why are you still—”
“Because someone targeted you to get to me,” he said. “And I’m not giving them what they want.”
Ava’s heart thudded against her ribs.
“And what do they want?” she whispered.
“For you to step away,” he said. “From the investigation. From me.”
Ava held his gaze.
“I’m not stepping away,” she said.
Something shifted in his shoulders—relief mixed with something deeper, something he didn’t voice.
Dominic took the papers from her hands gently and set them on the table.
Then he looked at her again, closer than before.
“You’re in danger because of someone connected to my company,” he said softly. “That makes it my responsibility.”
Ava’s voice caught. “That’s not how responsibility works.”
“It is for me.”
For a moment, neither of them moved.
Then Ava said the only thing she knew was true.
“I’m not afraid of them.”
Dominic’s eyes focused on her with a sharpness she hadn’t seen before.
“I know,” he said. “I’m afraid for you.”
Ava’s breath stilled.
She didn’t step back.
He didn’t step away.
The room felt smaller than a moment ago—quiet, charged, unmistakably pulled toward something neither of them could pretend away.
Dominic spoke barely above a whisper.
“We go forward from here.”
Ava nodded once.
“Together,” she said.
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