Chapter 12 - THE JOB SHE REFUSED TWICE
One year after Hazel saved Damian in the service corridor, Grant Hale resigned as security chief.
Damian nearly had a heart attack.
“You cannot resign.”
Grant sat across from his desk.
“I can.”
“No.”
“Interesting legal theory.”
“Why?”
Grant smiled.
“My wife has tolerated fifteen years of midnight calls, body armor in the laundry room, and you ruining Christmas dinner twice.”
“Once.”
“Two.”
“The second was Bastian.”
“You invited him.”
Fair.
Grant continued.
“My oldest starts high school. I want to be home.”
Damian looked away.
Another man choosing family over power.
Apparently this was contagious.
“Consulting?”
“Yes.”
“Emergency?”
“Maybe.”
“Sunday games?”
“No.”
Damian glared.
Grant laughed.
“I’ll miss you too.”
Then came the obvious issue.
Replacement.
The board recommended Hazel.
Damian refused before they finished.
Hazel heard within thirty minutes.
She entered his office.
“You rejected me.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“You don’t want the job.”
Correct answer.
Hazel stopped.
“Oh.”
Damian smiled.
She stared suspiciously.
“You didn’t reject me because we’re dating?”
“No.”
“Because you think it’s dangerous?”
“All work near me is statistically questionable, but no.”
“Because I’m a woman?”
Damian looked offended.
“You beat Bastian Mercer with one functioning button.”
“That was not the question.”
“No.”
“Then why?”
“Because you built your own company.”
Hazel remained silent.
“You told me you didn’t want your life reduced to the worst eleven seconds of Prague.”
Her eyes softened.
“Running my security would do exactly that.”
Hazel sat.
“You remembered.”
“Yes.”
“I hate when you improve.”
“I enjoy it.”
Damian appointed Grant’s deputy, Nina Alvarez, after an external selection process.
No family recommendation.
No old-captain favor.
Hazel approved.
She did not need to.
That was why he liked when she did.
Grant’s retirement dinner happened at a restaurant with no private buyout.
His children attended.
Damian gave him a watch.
Hazel gave him a framed photograph of Camera D-Seventeen tilted exactly three degrees left.
Caption:
THE ANGLE THAT PROVED GRANT HALE SHOULD LISTEN TO SECRETARIES.
Grant laughed until he cried.
Damian looked at Hazel.
“You know you were technically insubordinate.”
“I didn’t report to him.”
“Everyone was insubordinate.”
“Leadership issue.”
Grant raised a glass.
“To Hazel.”
Everyone turned.
She hated attention.
Perfect.
“For saving my boss twice,” Grant said.
Damian smiled.
“And saving me from having to explain to Chicago how he died because he didn’t listen.”
Hazel groaned.
Grant continued.
“To Damian.”
Less enthusiasm.
“Who eventually learned.”
Damian lifted his glass.
“Careful.”
“To getting out before he forgets.”
Laughter.
Then Grant became serious.
“To Antonio Russo and Thomas Brooks.”
Silence.
Hazel looked at Damian.
They drank.
Later, Damian walked Hazel home.
She had kept her own apartment.
Not because the relationship was uncertain.
Because she wanted it.
Damian had once suggested she keep clothes at his place.
Hazel said yes.
He wisely stopped there.
At her building, she said, “I have something.”
“Dangerous opening.”
She handed him a leather contract folder.
Same type she had carried during the assassination attempt.
Damian looked at it.
“Should I duck?”
“Open.”
Inside was an agreement.
Damian read the title.
APEX HOLDINGS / BROOKS PROTECTIVE INTELLIGENCE INDEPENDENT SECURITY CONSULTING AGREEMENT.
“Three years.”
“Yes.”
“You’re charging me more than Grant.”
“Yes.”
“That’s offensive.”
“I’m better.”
Damian smiled.
“Probably.”
Then he reached the compensation page.
“Hazel.”
“What?”
“This rate is criminal.”
She raised an eyebrow.
“Poor choice of word.”
He laughed.
“Fine.”
“Read the conflict clause.”
He did.
Romantic relationship between principals disclosed to Apex independent board.
Hazel’s company could terminate without penalty if Damian interfered with professional judgment.
No retaliatory contracting decisions.
No exclusive relationship.
“Romance contract.”
“No.”
“Very romantic.”
“It protects my company.”
“I know.”
He signed.
Hazel took the folder.
“One year.”
“What?”
“Since you fired me.”
Damian’s smile faded.
“I know.”
“Do you?”
“Yes.”
He looked at her.
“I remember the date.”
Hazel touched his tie.
“I’m not angry anymore.”
“I am.”
“At yourself?”
“Yes.”
“Stop.”
“I was cruel.”
“Yes.”
“I barely knew you.”
“Yes.”
“I should have asked one question.”
“What happened?”
He nodded.
Hazel looked at him.
“Then ask it now.”
Damian frowned.
“What happened?”
She smiled.
“A man tried to kill you.”
“I know.”
“I stopped him.”
“I know.”
“You fired me.”
“I know.”
“I started a company.”
“Yes.”
“My mother dresses Franklin the ceramic goose for Easter.”
Damian smiled.
“Yes.”
“And I fell in love with the man who fired me.”
He stopped breathing.
Hazel’s smile disappeared.
There.
She had said it.
Damian, for once, had no polished answer.
“Hazel.”
“That expression is concerning.”
“I love you too.”
Simple.
No empire.
No dramatic speech.
Hazel’s eyes filled.
“Good.”
“Good?”
“I had contingencies.”
“What contingencies?”
“Leave.”
Damian laughed.
“Of course.”
Then he kissed her beneath the ugly fluorescent light outside her apartment.
Not cinematic.
Not powerful.
Perfect.
Months passed.
Apex changed.
The legitimate businesses expanded.
Shipping contracts became cleaner.
Political favors decreased.
Auditors became regular instead of terrifying.
Damian still had enemies.
Men did not forget fifteen years because one leader changed his paperwork.
But the empire people whispered about began becoming a company people could describe openly.
Some old captains called him weak.
Damian learned weak men did not usually survive compliance meetings with Hazel and Nina Alvarez.
Bastian Mercer changed too, though much less elegantly.
Federal pressure on his weapons operations forced him to abandon some businesses.
He moved into legal warehousing.
Damian charged thirty percent.
Some traditions deserved preservation.
One afternoon, Bastian visited Apex.
He saw Hazel in Damian’s office.
“You still here?”
She looked up.
“Yes.”
“Secretary?”
Damian and Hazel both stared.
Bastian raised his hands.
“Consultant.”
“Better.”
He handed Damian new contracts.
Hazel inspected them.
Bastian groaned.
“Do you have to?”
“Yes.”
“You know I employ lawyers.”
Hazel smiled.
“I know.”
Damian leaned back.
For the first time, he understood how much of his old life depended on people being too afraid to check him.
Hazel never had been.
That was probably why he loved her.
May you like
Not because she saved his life.
Because she refused to let him waste it.
