We continue reviewing the documents in silence. Despite her effort to keep things strictly professional, I can see it—she’s fascinated. Drawn in. At one point, her hand brushes mine.
She pulls away like she’s been burned.
“I… I should get back to work,” she says, gathering her things too quickly.
“Keira, wait.”
“Yes?”
“This whole thing—the treasure—I’d like us to keep working on it. Together. As… colleagues.”
She hesitates, caught between curiosity and self-preservation.
“Okay,” she says finally. “But it stays strictly professional.”
“Strictly professional,” I echo.
She nods and leaves, a little too fast.
The restof the day drags by in this strange, strained normalcy. She works. I work. We exchange polite, distant words when necessary.
It’s Martha who finally breaks the illusion.
“Forgive me for speaking out of turn,” she says that afternoon, stepping into my office, “but what is going on between you and Miss McGregor?”
“What do you mean?” I ask, feigning innocence.
“Alistair, I’ve worked for your family for years. I’ve seen you handle tense negotiations, financial crises… even your breakup with that?—”
My expression stops her from finishing.
“I’ve never seen you like this,” she concludes.
“Like what?”
“You watch her constantly. She avoids looking at you. You both walk on eggshells. The tension in this office is so thick it could be cut with a knife.”
I sigh. Martha has always had a talent for hitting exactly where it hurts.
“It’s complicated.”
“The best things usually are.”
“You’re giving relationship advice now?”
“Only when my employer behaves like an awkward teenager,” she says with a smile. “May I offer a suggestion?”
“Go ahead.”
“Stop acting like you’ve committed a crime. You work well together. You’re a good team. And your feelings are obvious.”
“Obvious?”
She gives me a look usually reserved for exceptionally foolish statements.
“I don’t pretend to understand everything, but I trust you. You’ll figure it out.”
After she leaves, I sit there, staring at the documents spread across my desk—thinking about Archibald and Elspeth, about the mysterious treasure… and about history repeating itself in ways that feel a little too familiar.
