At 7:15, Wren woke to a knock.
Silas was standing outside the guest room holding a sealed envelope.
Her expression tightened immediately.
“Termination papers?”
“No.”
She opened it.
Inside was an address, a temporary access key and the contact information for the hotel’s newly activated confidential employee safety service.
Wren read the page twice.
“What is this?”
“A place where he doesn’t know you live.”
She stared at him.
“I can’t afford a hotel apartment.”
“You aren’t being charged.”
“I can’t accept something from you personally.”
“It isn’t from me.”
That was technically true now.
The policy existed.
The apartment had been assigned through the company.
The fact that neither had existed three hours earlier was information Silas intended to keep to himself.
Wren looked at the paper again.
“How long has the hotel had this program?”
Silas reached for his coffee.
“Long enough.”
It was the closest he came to lying to her.
The elevator doors opened onto the housekeeping level twenty minutes later.
Three employees stopped talking the instant they saw Wren step out.
Her supervisor was standing near the linen room with an expression that made it obvious rumors had traveled faster than facts.
Wren’s shoulders stiffened.
Silas noticed.
The supervisor approached.
“Mr.
Wentworth, I can explain.
She had no authorization to—”
“I know exactly where she was.”
The hallway went silent.
Wren looked at the floor.
The supervisor lowered her voice.
“Then I’ll process the termination immediately.”
“No.”
Everyone looked at Silas.
He continued calmly.
“You’ll process paid emergency leave through the end of the week.”
The supervisor blinked.
“Sir?”
“And you’ll ensure no one discusses the details of last night.
Her private circumstances are not workplace entertainment.”
Wren finally looked up.
Silas’s gaze moved across the silent staff.
“A maintenance failure left a restricted route unsecured for months.
An unauthorized man entered an employee-only area and threatened one of our staff.
Those are failures of this building.”
He paused.
“The employee who found the only place she believed she could safely sleep is not the person I intend to punish for them.”
Nobody spoke.
Wren’s supervisor slowly nodded.
“Yes, Mr.
