Daniel watched through the wall-mounted screen in his office, the security feed split into three perfect quadrants. Sunlight slashed across the glass, turning his reflection into something fractured and hollow-eyed. He ignored it.
He had told himself this was just due diligence. Standard protocol. The new hire's first morning, a notoriously volatile subject, and a six-figure contract riding on her performance. Of course, he'd check the footage. Every movement, every pause, every word was catalogued for review. It wasn't surveillance—it was risk management.
Except he couldn't stop watching.
There was Emma Carter, perched on the edge of a stool in the study center, not even pretending to follow the so-called "behavioral plan."
No sign of tablets or pre-loaded modules, not a single adaptive compliance metric in sight. Instead, she just…listened. She actually let Alex direct the entire conversation, drone debris scattered everywhere, table a war zone of broken engineering and adolescent attitude.
Unbelievable.
Daniel pinched the bridge of his nose. Was this a joke? She was supposed to enforce structure, logistics, correct the patterns—it said so clearly in the protocol.
Instead, she was letting Alex talk in circles about drone design and, God, was she actually encouraging him to break the rules even further? He should have known better than to trust Marcus's instincts over his own. He made a mental note, if this went sideways, Marcus would be the one answering for it.
And yet, Daniel couldn't quite bring himself to look away.
Alex was different with her. Anyone could see it.
He wasn't pacing or tearing strips off the walls. He wasn't sabotaging her agenda, because she wasn't pushing one.
There was an energy in his body language that Daniel couldn't recall seeing in months—a lean forward, an actual smile? For someone who was supposed to be "unmanageable," Alex seemed almost…engaged.
Ridiculous.
The evidence was on-screen and Daniel still didn't want to believe it.
He caught another angle, a close-up from the west wing. Emma leaning over a schematic, hair sliding loose from her ponytail, tracing a line of equations with her fingertip. The sharpness in her profile. The way she stopped and thought before speaking.
He realized she wasn't just humoring Alex, she was actually keeping up with him. Maybe even challenging him.
Daniel's gaze dropped to her hands. Small, precise, careful with the prototype even though it was a lost cause.
He could imagine those hands running a board room or, hell, wrapped around a steaming mug in some city café.
Something about her was all contradictions; great with kids, but clearly sharp enough to wind her way through adult power games if she had to. Polished but not pretentious. And that voice, even through the distant, tiny feed, full of calm resolve and subtle humor.
She was, for lack of a better word, unexpectedly magnetic.
He frowned. No. Irrelevant.
This was not about him and definitely not about the way Ms. Carter looked when she smiled and said something smart enough to make Alex pause.
He was paying her to produce results, and right now, all he saw was chaos, improvisation, barely a hint of curriculum anywhere.
Daniel snapped the laptop closed so hard the glass on his desk rattled. He needed to get in front of this. He needed to set the tone before things spun out of control.
Unbelievable! Barely a hint of structure, and now he was supposed to just "trust the process?" The hell with that.
He stalked out of his office, not even waiting for the smart system to finish mumbling about security protocols. He didn't care.
He didn't care if all of R&D melted down and sent a dozen more texts. Right now, this was about optics. About keeping the Dawson name as far from the word "failure" as possible.
He found her in the corridor, just inside the threshold of the gaming room. Emma Carter, standing there with her hands in her pockets and a look that said she'd seen messier situations and survived.
She didn't even flinch when she noticed Daniel bearing down on her. He almost respected that.
"Can I speak with you," Daniel said, sharp, not a question. She nodded, stepped out into the hall, so calm it was infuriating.
He waited until the auto-door closed behind them. "You were given a very clear outline for today's sessions."
It came out clipped, a little too loud in the hush. "I'm struggling to understand what you consider 'structure,' Ms. Carter, because from my vantage point it looked like you let Alex drive the entire conversation."
She didn't look embarrassed. If anything, her chin came up. "If you want compliance, there's software for that," she said. "I thought you wanted him to actually engage."
Was she joking? He felt his pulse spike. "We invested significant resources developing a protocol to minimize outbursts and maximize measured learning. If you deviate, you undermine everything we're trying to accomplish."
She folded her arms, cardigan sleeves bunching at the wrists. "Maybe the problem is the protocol," she said, low, but clear.
"Maybe you need to treat Alex more like a son and less like another employee. He needs less monitoring and more trust."
Trust? For a second, Daniel thought he might actually lose it. "With respect, Ms. Carter, your role is not to diagnose, it's to implement. I'm teaching my son discipline and preparing him for his role as the next CEO."
Jesus. Was she really going to argue with him about this?
She took a step back, like she was done with the confrontation, but her heel clipped the edge of a low table positioned against the wall.
Everything happened fast: her knee hit the wood, and a heavy sculptural bookend perched on the edge wobbled, then teetered, ready to crash down straight onto her head.
"Careful!" Daniel lunged, grabbing her by the waist and pulling her toward him, just as the bookend tipped over with a deadly WHUMP!
For a second, they were frozen together. Her back was flush against his chest, his arms wrapped tight around her waist, breath mingling, both of them staring at the bookend on the floor like it was a live grenade.
Neither of them moved. Not for a full five seconds.
Daniel could feel the warmth of her body, the fast, light tremor of her breath. He could smell her shampoo, clean and just a little floral, nothing like the overly sweet perfumes the women in his office bathe themselves in.
Her small frame fit perfectly inside of his arms.
His arms!
Realizing he was still holding her, Daniel jumped back and quickly exited the room.
What the hell was that?
