With a gasp, she opened her eyes. No, she’d never get used to this.
She slowly sat up, and her throat grew thick. Her gaze found the white envelope. Its edges were bent and creased. A familiar rock settled in her belly—sour, painful, and guilt-ridden.
With a trembling hand, she reached for the crinkled envelope. Her shoulders sank, as if a heavy weight were pushing down on her, which wasn’t too far from the truth. She tore open the top flap and peeked inside. Her stomach twisted painfully.
No, she sure as hell would never get used to this. And she shouldn’t. Because it’s what she deserved.
Taking in a deep breath, she poured the contents onto the table and braced herself. But it was no use. Sorrow and guilt bombarded her. Her chest squeezed tightly as she stared at the four pictures on the coffee table.
All were from high school. She’d seen some variation of the photos before, but it didn’t stop the grief and shame from seeping into her every pore. Nothing would.
The first two were of her and Sarah. Happy. Smiling. Laughing. She swiped away a stray tear before moving the photos aside.
The last two photos raised the fine hairs on her arms. As always, they were of her standing by herself at Sarah’s gravesite. On one of the photos, her face was circled over and over again in ballpoint pen. Grooves dug deeply into the photo. A giant X crossed out her face. In the other, her eyes were blacked out and there was a message scrawled along the bottom.
The message was the same. Always the same. But like the photos, it was no less devastating.It should have been you.
She shot up from the couch and raced across the room, barely making it to the garbage can before her stomach emptied.
CHAPTER SIX
Xander leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms over his chest. He glanced around Hudson Security’s conference room at his colleagues and frowned. As he listened to the woman across the table from him, his frown deepened. Esmerelda Abara was their director of logistics. She was based in the Seattle area but came to their Hudson Island office every other week or so as she handled... well, everything. She was former CIA, could probably kill him ten different ways, and would most definitely make sure no one ever found his body. Like all the women at Hudson Security, Esme was a badass. And she sure as hell didn’t mince words.
“Of the five candidates you sent me,” she said, “my recommendation is that only two of them move on to the next round of interviews.”
His eyebrows rose in surprise. Onlytwo?
As the lead of Hudson Security’s Team One and the overall head of the personal security division, Xander had spent considerable time going through countless applications for their new Team Four. Nine candidates had passed Bean’s thorough background check. Their head of cybersecurity, who was seated beside him, was one of the best hackers in the world.
It was safe to say he knewwaymore information about each candidate than he wanted. After checking their references, conducting two rounds of one-on-one video interviews, and then an off-site, in-person meeting with each candidate, he’d whittled the candidate pool down to five.
He’d thought those that remained were top-notch. Solid. That the only issue would be which three rose to the top. Each of the five had met individually with Esme over the last week, and apparently, he’d been wrong.
“In fact,” Esme continued, “McNab and Stevenson are lucky I didn’t lay them out flat.”
His eyebrows lifted even higher as Bean chuckled beside him.
“I’m afraid to ask, Es,” Gavin Frazier, the founder and head of Hudson Security, said from the video feed on the room’s giant smartboard. “What did they do?”
Esme’s eyes narrowed, and Xander swore he could feel her irritation from across the table.
“As you all know,” Esme said, “for their interview with me, all Xander tells them is they’re meeting with Hudson Security’s director of logistics. He gives them the location and time. Nothing more. Nothing less. I met McNab on Wednesday night and Stevenson on Thursday.” She gestured to the smartboard where Bean had added the photos of both men. “Let’s just say they’re both slimy motherfuckers.Zerorespect for women. After I let them know who I was, Stevenson had the decency to act remorseful. But McNab? Nope. He doubled down on the misogyny. Suffice it to say, neither of them should advance to the next round. There’s only a handful of women who work here, and there’s no way I’d subject any of us to those guys.”
“Fair,” Gavin said, nodding. “You know we trust your judgment implicitly.”
“Sorry you had to put up with that shit,” Xander said. “You said only two made it through. Who else did you cut?”
“Katsaros.” Esme shook her head, gesturing to the new photo on the smartboard. “The woman has all the credentials, but the chip on her shoulder is too much. She wouldn’t get along with half the guys here.”
“So that leaves us with Corbin and Jardine,” Xander said as Bean added photos of the two remaining candidates.
“They both interviewed well,” Esme said. “Professional, alert, personable, and intelligent. Jardine has a talent for languages and would be an asset for MacKay,” Esme said, referring to Hudson Security’s number two, Oliver MacKay, who was based in London.
“Sounds good,” Frazier said. “I’ll be back on the island tomorrow. Can you set up an in-office interview for next week with both of them?”
“Of course,” Esme replied. “Who do you want sitting in?”
Once they determined who’d be joining the interviews, Frazier nodded. “Great. Thanks, everyone. Now, Xan, how’d the meetings at the Pacific View Resort go this morning?”
