The studio parking structure was a labyrinth of concrete and shadow, the roar of the city outside muffled and distant. The fluorescent lights hummed, casting a sickly yellow glow on the rows of luxury cars. I walked quickly, my purse clutched tight, the humiliation of Sabrina’s offer still stinging.
A figure detached itself from the gloom between two parked SUVs. I flinched, my heart leaping into my throat.
“Ms. Holloway.”
It was Grizz. He stepped into a sliver of light, his face grim. His presence alone sent a fresh wave of unease through me. He was Sabrina’s security chief, the one who had watched her humiliate me.
“What do you want?” I asked, my voice sharper than I intended. “Have you come to finish the job?”
He held up a hand. “I understand why you’d think that.” His voice was low, gravelly. “But I’m not here for Sabrina.”
He glanced around, as if checking for unseen eyes. The paranoia was contagious.
“My younger brother, David Bennett,” Grizz began, his gaze fixed on mine. “He was a junior camera operator on the ‘Titan Flames’ set back in 2012.”
My breath hitched. David Bennett. The name was like a phantom limb, a pain I hadn’t expected. I remembered a young man, eager, buzzing with energy, always clutching his camera.
“He shouldn’t have been there that day,” Grizz continued, his voice tight. “He was new, barely eighteen. Just started.”
He paused, a flicker of raw emotion crossing his usually impassive face.
“He told me, after… after the explosion, that he only made it out because someone hit the manual fire suppression override. Said they broke protocol, saved six people who were trapped in the lower observation deck.”
My mind raced back, a flash of searing pain, the acrid smell of burning chemicals. I remembered the heavy lever, the scorching metal. My own fingers, wrapped around it, even as the blast pushed me back.
“He said that person took the full blast,” Grizz finished, his eyes locking onto the jagged burn scar that peeked out from under my sleeve. “Took it square. Saved his life. Saved all their lives.”
He took a step closer, his voice barely a whisper. “He described the scar. Said it looked like a map of jagged mountains, all across the shoulder blade.”
The air crackled between us. The truth, finally, after twelve years. Someone else knew.
“You were the whistleblower,” Grizz stated, not a question. “You blew the whistle on the illegal pyrotechnics, didn’t you? Then you saved them.”
My body stiffened. I had lived with this secret for so long, the burden of it pressing down on me.
“I was hired by the Aegis Group,” Grizz continued, his voice taking on a new, unsettling quality. “A few weeks ago. They wanted me to track down the whistleblower from ‘Titan Flames.’ The one who almost brought down the entire operation.”
My blood ran cold. The Aegis Group. My husband’s off-the-books payments. They weren’t just paying to bury the past; they were hunting me.
“They want to know who breached their non-disclosure,” Grizz explained. “Who caused all this attention, starting with Sabrina’s public campaign.”
He looked at me, his gaze intense. “But I’m not going to tell them. Not now. Not after what I just heard, and what I saw you do in that conference room today.”
He extended a hand. In his palm rested a small, sleek burner phone.
“I owe you a debt, Ms. Holloway. For my brother. Tell me what happened. And tell me what you need me to do.”
The parking structure lights hummed, an indifferent backdrop to this sudden, monumental shift in alliances. My world, which had been closing in, suddenly found an unexpected, dangerous ally.
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