A Secret Bargain

POV: Valerie Thorne.

I sat motionless behind my polished mahogany desk, letting the undeniable weight of Sylvia Eames’s desperate plea hang heavy in the chilled air of my executive office. She sat across from me on the expensive black leather sofa, her knuckles turning stark white as she nervously clasped her designer handbag. The silence in the corner office was deliberate, broken only by the fa