“That introduction usually guarantees yes.”
She smiled.
“I came here because I knew you’d be sitting here.”
Marcus did not answer.
She continued:
“And I’m beginning to think I like sitting this close to you more than I should.”
His gaze dropped briefly to her mouth.
Then returned to her eyes.
“Careful.”
“With what?”
“You keep saying things like that and I might stop pretending I don't notice.”
Serena’s pulse changed.
She leaned in a fraction.
“Maybe I’m tired of pretending too.”
Her phone rang.
The moment broke.
She answered.
Mara’s voice came fast.
“Serena, Compass has formally rejected the emergency release.”
Serena closed her eyes.
“What about Meridian?”
“Grant says paperwork can be ready tonight.”
Marcus’s phone vibrated at exactly the same moment beside the toolbox.
Serena glanced.
Screen showed no readable name.
Marcus turned it face down.
Something registered in her expression.
Not certainty.
A question.
She ended her call.
“Your phone always vibrates when mine does?”
Marcus smiled.
“Modern technology.”
“You’re hiding something.”
“Everyone is.”
“That is not reassuring.”
“No.”
Serena stood.
“I have to go.”
Marcus nodded.
She hesitated.
“Do you ever come anywhere that doesn’t smell like diesel?”
“Sometimes grocery store.”
“Dinner?”
He looked up.
“Is that a question?”
“Yes.”
Marcus’s expression softened.
“Not tonight.”
Serena’s face changed.
“Rejection?”
“Timing.”
“That sounds gentler than rejection.”
“It is.”
She studied him.
Then smiled.
“Tomorrow?”
“Maybe.”
“I hate maybe.”
“I know.”
She walked away.
Marcus watched.
Then picked up phone.
Joanna Price had sent an encrypted message through the attorney.
I was fired. I have evidence. Need to talk.
Marcus looked toward Serena’s disappearing car.
Timing, he thought.
Very bad timing.
Joanna met him that evening at the marina.
No makeup.
Office box in her trunk.
Angry enough to stop being afraid.
She sat where Serena had sat hours earlier.
“I don’t know who you are.”
Marcus said nothing.
“But something is wrong inside Ashford Harbor.”
“I think you know.”
He looked at her.
“Tell me everything.”
Joanna described shell companies.
Grant’s warnings.
Meridian.
The projects.
The termination.
Marcus listened without interrupting.
Then he asked questions.
Dates.
Authorization numbers.
Vendor accounts.
Who had access.
Whether Serena knew.
Joanna answered:
“I don’t think she does.”
“Why?”
“Because Grant controls what reaches her.”
Marcus frowned.
“Serena controls foundation.”
“On paper.”
Joanna shook head.
“She controls mission.”