Chapter 2 - THE WATCH ON HIS WRIST
The paramedics took over so quickly that Bailey barely realized she had been pushed against the elevator wall.
“Ma’am, step back.”
“I was doing compressions.”
“I know. You did good.”
The words should have comforted her.
Instead, Bailey stared at Lucas Bennett as the paramedics cut open the rest of his shirt and attached wires across his chest.
His eyes were open.
And still, somehow, he was looking for her.
Not Howard.
Not the paramedics.
Her.
“Sir, can you tell me your name?”
Lucas swallowed.
“Lucas.”
“Good. Do you know where you are?”
His eyes moved toward Bailey.
“Meridian.”
The paramedic nodded.
“Good. Stay with me.”
Bailey stepped closer.
“I’m Bailey.”
Lucas’s brow tightened.
“I know.”
She frowned.
“You do?”
But the paramedic interrupted.
“Ma’am, we need room.”
Bailey stepped back.
Howard came beside her.
His face was still pale.
“You all right?”
“I think so.”
Howard looked at her bloody hands.
“You broke his ribs.”
Bailey swallowed.
“I know.”
“He’d be dead without you.”
She looked toward the stretcher.
“I just did what I was trained to do.”
Howard shook his head.
“No.”
Bailey glanced at him.
“You did what most people would have been too scared to do.”
Before she could answer, the paramedics wheeled Lucas toward the service corridor.
His hand hung over the side of the stretcher.
On his wrist was a simple old-fashioned watch.
Brown leather.
Scratched silver case.
Nothing like the expensive things Bailey expected a billionaire to wear.
As they passed, Lucas suddenly lifted his hand.
“Wait.”
Everyone stopped.
His eyes found Bailey.
“Your name.”
“Bailey Carter.”
He repeated it quietly.
“Bailey Carter.”
Then his eyes closed.
The stretcher disappeared around the corner.
Bailey stood there staring after him.
Howard exhaled.
“You just saved the owner of this building.”
Bailey looked down at her hands.
“I was just cleaning his floor.”
Howard gave a tired laugh.
“Not anymore.”
The next morning, Bailey arrived at the hospital because she couldn't stop thinking about him.
She told herself she was only checking whether he survived.
Nothing more.
But when she reached the cardiac unit, a security officer stopped her.
“Family only.”
“I’m not family.”
“Then you can't go in.”
Bailey nodded.
“That’s fine.”
She turned.
A nurse hurried after her.
“Ms. Carter?”
Bailey stopped.
The nurse held out a plastic evidence bag.
Inside was a watch.
The scratched brown-leather watch from Lucas’s wrist.
“Mr. Bennett asked us to give this to you.”
Bailey stared at it.
“Why?”
“He said you’d know.”
“I don’t.”
The nurse shrugged.
“He was very specific.”
Bailey took the bag.
The watch felt strangely familiar.
Not because she had seen it before.
Because the engraving on the back made her breath catch.
Three words.
FOR YOUR LITTLE GIRL.
Bailey's fingers trembled.
She looked at the nurse.
“What does that mean?”
“I don't know.”
Bailey turned the watch over again.
There was another engraving beneath it.
A date.
Her mother’s birthday.
Bailey stopped breathing for a moment.
Her mother had been dead for three years.
And Lucas Bennett somehow had a watch engraved with her birthday.
By noon, the story had spread through Meridian Tower.
The night cleaner had saved Lucas Bennett.
Executives whispered about it over coffee.
Some praised her.
Others wondered why she had been anywhere near him.
Bailey ignored all of them.
Then her supervisor called her into the office.
Mr. Reed closed the door.
“Bailey, I need you to sit down.”
She did.
He folded his hands.
“Corporate security reviewed the elevator footage.”
Her stomach tightened.
“And?”
“You entered the executive floor at 11:31.”
“Yes.”
“You left your cart unattended outside the elevator.”
“For maybe thirty seconds.”
“That cart contained cleaning chemicals.”
“I was saving a man’s life.”
“I know.”
His voice softened.
“But security found something else.”
He slid a photograph across the desk.
It showed Bailey beside Lucas’s body.
At first she didn't understand.
Then she saw it.
Her cleaning cart.
And underneath it—
a small black envelope.
Bailey stared.
“That isn't mine.”
Mr. Reed frowned.
“It was inside your cart.”
“I've never seen it.”
“Security believes someone put it there.”
“Why?”
He didn't answer.
Instead, he pushed the photograph closer.
“Because the envelope wasn't there when you entered the floor.”
Bailey looked up.
“Then who put it there?”
Mr. Reed leaned back.
“That is exactly what corporate security wants to know.”
That night, Bailey returned to the hospital.
She wasn't supposed to.
But she needed answers.
Lucas was awake when she entered his room.
He looked exhausted.
Paler than before.
But his voice was steady.
“You came.”
Bailey stood near the door.
“You sent me your watch.”
“I did.”
“Why?”
Lucas looked toward the window.
“Because I recognized the engraving.”
Bailey's heart began pounding.
“How?”
He was silent for several seconds.
Then he said something that made the room feel suddenly smaller.
“Your mother gave me that watch.”
Bailey froze.
“My mother never knew you.”
Lucas looked at her.
“She did.”
“No.”
“She did.”
Bailey shook her head.
“My mother worked two jobs. She never had anything to do with billionaires.”
Lucas gave a faint, sad smile.
“That’s what she wanted everyone to believe.”
Bailey stepped closer.
“What are you talking about?”
Lucas reached toward the bedside table.
His fingers touched a small photograph.
He picked it up.
Then held it out.
Bailey took it.
The photograph was old.
A younger Lucas stood beside a woman.
Bailey knew that woman.
She had seen that face in hundreds of photographs.
Her mother.
Bailey's mouth opened.
“No.”
Lucas watched her carefully.
“Your mother didn't just know me.”
He paused.
“She helped build Meridian.”
Bailey stared at the photograph.
May you like
Then Lucas said the words that changed everything.
“She also left something here for you.”
