The CEO's Hidden Gatekeeper

A security guard in his fifties holds out his badge at the desk while the young woman writes in a paper log.

He came up at six with his badge already in his hand, before I could even ask.

His kid has bad lungs, so he misses shifts, and every shift he misses gets written down somewhere with his name on it.

I put the round in the paper log as walked and initialed it myself. I was on those stairs anyway. Half of it was true.

The CEO's Hidden Gatekeeper

Chapter 2 of 23

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Synopsis

I run the night desk at Marsh Tower. I decide who reaches the top floor and who waits below. Nobody looks at me. That is how I stay safe. My brother is missing. My mother forgets my name a little more each week. I take extra shifts, pay the care home, and keep my mouth shut. Then Coren Marsh sees me. Not my badge. Me. He watches me handle a blackout and does not look away. I make one bad call and expect to be fired. He keeps me. He moves me closer. He builds walls around me and calls it work. Every wall makes me safer. Every wall makes him harder to leave. He says he protects what is his. I need to know if he is building me a way out or a cage—before I stop wanting the door.