Page 36 of Alex

He stops packing up the files to look up at me. His eyes widen, like he’s surprised I came to the office today, and his smile almost makes me think he’s excited to see me.

My insides warm as I return his smile.

“Hey, Elise. I wasn’t sure if you were coming or not.”

“Your dad asked me to come help, so I came as soon as I could.”

He nods. “Well, I’m almost done with this filing cabinet. Are there any other files we need to pack up and bring?”

“Umm, probably the files I keep in my desk, but I can pack them up.”

Alex gets back to packing and I head over to the pile of empty boxes. I’m not ready for this conversation to be over.

“Hey, do you know where Peter is? I didn’t see him downstairs. I was going to check in with him and make sure he’s okay after the break in and stuff.”

“Peter quit.”

Those two words leave me more confused than ever before.

“HE WHAT?” I yell, trying to process what Alex had just said.

Why would Peter quit? He loved this job.

“Peter quit.” Alex repeats those two words with no emotion in his voice, but his jaw ticks withhidden anger.

“When? Why?”

“Dad showed up, and Peter told him to find a different security guy.”

I lean against the door frame, trying to put the pieces of the puzzle together. “That doesn’t make any sense. Why would Peter do that?”

Alex’s lips tighten into a thin line.

“What aren’t you saying? You look like you know more than you are letting on.”

He shakes his head. “I don’t know anything, but I have my own assumptions.”

“About Peter?”

He nods. “I wouldn’t be telling this to other employees, but you’re special, and we have something going on. Plus, I know you and Peter are friends.”

My heart beats faster and my face flames as I imagine exactly what Alex and I have going on.

“Peter and I are more like acquaintances. We never hung out and only spoke when I worked late, which was quite often, but our conversations were never deep.”

I’m not sure why I’m confessing all of this to Alex, but his face seems to light up.

“So, what is it you think happened last night?”

Alex glances around to make sure he can’t be overheard. “I can’t say for sure, but based on the daggers he shot me the entire time you were fixing the alarm, he doesn’t like me, and he wants you for himself.”

I gasp for air, feeling like my lungs were deflated in a split second. There’s no way Peter did this. Sure, there might be some truth in Alex’s statement that Peter would date me, but to orchestrate this?

The break in, the destruction, and the fire. He wouldn’t do this. He couldn’t do this.

Alex walks over to me and places his hand under my chin.

“I’m sorry if I upset you. Nothing like this has ever happened, and then, after last night-” he shakes his head, “well, it raised a few flags.”

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