CHAPTER 6 – The Second Lock
The next morning, Mrs. Hayes called Lucas alone.
No parents.
No staff.
Just him and the study.
“I have a request,” she said.
Lucas crossed his arms. “Another test?”
“No,” she replied. “A choice.”
She slid a folder across the desk.
Inside were documents—financial reports, inventory logs, security records.
“I need someone to observe what my staff won’t,” she said. “Someone they don’t notice.”
Lucas frowned. “I’m not a guard.”
“I don’t want a guard,” she said. “I want eyes that haven’t learned to look away.”
He stared at her.
“This is dangerous,” he said.
“Yes,” she agreed.
That honesty again. No disguise.
Lucas closed the folder halfway, then stopped.
“If I say no?”
“Then nothing changes,” she said.
A pause.
May you like
“But I will still know who you are.”
That sentence stayed with him longer than the offer itself.
