Warmth bloomed in Anya’s chest, a fragile, new flower of hope. Her mother’s condition had stabilized. That phone call, a lifeline, had changed everything. A heavy weight lifted, replaced by fierce resolve. Yet, a storm still raged. Elias Thorne’s name, dragged through the mud by that vicious article, burned in her mind. Her protective instincts, sharpened by relief, now focused solely on him. She sat at her desk, the laptop screen still displaying the damning headlines. Her fingers hovered over the keyboard. How could she possibly counter such a targeted attack? The task felt insurmountable. A sudden shift in the air caught her attention. A shadow detached itself from the doorway of Elias’s main office. Mr. Davies, Elias’s head of security, stood there. He was a man of quiet competence, a watchful presence rarely engaging directly. His gaze, usually impassive, held a flicker of something she couldn't quite decipher. Davies approached, his footsteps soft on the plush carpet. His posture, typically rigid, seemed a fraction less so, an almost imperceptible tension in his shoulders. He stopped a respectful distance from her desk. “Miss Sharma.” His voice was low, devoid of its usual clipped efficiency. It carried an unusual undertone of… concern. Her heart gave a little jolt. Did this concern relate to the article? Had Elias himself sent him? She braced herself for a difficult conversation about damage control. “Mr. Davies,” she replied, her own voice steady despite the sudden spike of adrenaline. “Is everything alright?” He hesitated, glancing around the empty office floor before meeting her eyes again. “I need a moment of your time. This isn’t related to your current project.” Not about the book. Her brows furrowed. Her work for Elias was strictly professional. What else could he possibly want from her? “It’s personal,” he clarified, his tone dropping further, as if sharing a secret. “It concerns Mr. Thorne directly.” Personal? A shiver ran down her spine. Elias didn’t have 'personal' matters that involved his ghostwriter. Not beyond the highly curated image he presented to the world. She pushed her chair back slightly. “How can I help with a personal matter, Mr. Davies? My role is quite specific.” His lips thinned. “Precisely. And that specific insight is what’s needed now.” Davies’s eyes were intense, searching. This was not the man who oversaw security operations with cold, calculated precision. This was a man burdened by something significant. “Mr. Thorne has… withdrawn,” he began, choosing his words carefully. “More than usual. The recent events, the article… they’ve hit him harder than anyone expected.” She knew about the article’s impact. She’d felt the sting herself, the injustice of it all. But for Davies to bring it up this way… it meant something more profound. “He’s not sleeping,” Davies continued, his gaze unwavering. “He’s barely eating. He cancels meetings, doesn’t respond to calls. It’s… unlike him, even for someone as private as Mr. Thorne.” Anya pictured Elias, always in control, always projecting an aura of impenetrable strength. The idea of him like this, unraveling, was unsettling. And deeply worrying. “We’ve tried to reach him,” Davies admitted, a rare note of frustration in his voice. “His closest advisors, his legal team… they can’t get through. He’s built walls even higher than before.” But why come to her? What could she possibly offer that his entire formidable network couldn’t? “Why me, Mr. Davies?” she asked, voicing the question that hammered in her head. “I’m his ghostwriter. I know his public persona, not his private struggles.” Davies stepped closer, his voice barely a whisper now. “You’ve spent months delving into his mind, his past, his motivations. You understand the narrative of his life, his hidden scars, in a way no one else does. You wrote his story.” He paused, and the silence stretched, heavy with unspoken weight. His eyes, usually vigilant, now held a deep, uncharacteristic plea. “Mr. Thorne is… vulnerable,” he said, the words heavy with gravity. “He needs your particular insight.”

An Unusual Request