Chapter 14
I rebuilt security slowly.
No grand purge.
Old guards reviewed.
New hires reviewed.
Every past “breach” reexamined for whether it was real, staged, or simply exploited afterward.
Three were staged.
Two were genuine.
That distinction mattered.
Paranoia is tempting after betrayal.
Do not let one conspiracy turn every accident into conspiracy.
Rafe became head of security.
Not because oldest.
Because he was willing to say:
“I don’t know.”
Useful quality.
I created one rule Corwin would have hated.
No security company could both identify a weakness and profit from filling it without independent review.
Simple.
Obvious after disaster.
Less obvious before.
I also changed something inside myself.
For years I liked men around me who appeared certain.
Fast answers.
Clear threats.
Immediate solutions.
Roland had been valuable because he often irritated me instead.
“That route feels wrong.”
“That guest is too comfortable.”
“Your fiancée’s cousin is selling fear.”
I called it suspicion.
It was judgment.
Different.
Leadership gets fragile when everyone learns agreement earns easier access.
So I asked Rafe to build a team where disagreement could travel upward without career suicide.
He looked at me.
“You want bodyguards to argue with you?”
“No.”
“Question me.”
“That sounds like arguing.”
Fair.
We would adjust.
Adelise left housekeeping two months later.
Not because I promoted her.
She wanted to study hospitality management.
I offered tuition.
She refused half.
Accepted a small educational stipend Roland had earned under his old contract that had never been paid because accounting closed his employment after presumed death.
That was his money.
Not charity.
May you like
She liked that distinction.
So did I.
