Cracking the Code

7557 words

Claire’s fingers trembled as she punched the code into the safe, the cold steel biting into her palm with each failed attempt. The air in Harrison Davenport’s Manhattan office was stale, heavy with the scent of old leather and cigar smoke that clung to the walls like a ghost. The keypad beeped red again—wrong code, third try. Her breath hitched, a sharp sound in the quiet room, and she stepped back, wiping her hand on her tailored blazer as if the metal had burned her. “Claire, you’re sure it’s 4-9-1-2?” Oliver’s voice cut through the silence, sharp and impatient, as he leaned against the mahogany desk, arms crossed. His sleeves were rolled up, revealing forearms dusted with freckles and the faint scars of kitchen burns from years of playing chef. The late afternoon light streaming through the floor-to-ceiling windows caught the stubble on his jaw, making him look more tired than carefree for once. “Because if Dad changed it and didn’t tell us—” “He didn’t change it,” Claire snapped, her voice tighter than she meant. She turned to face him, her heels clicking on the hardwood floor. “He gave me this code two years ago for the merger documents. It’s the same. It has to be.” But doubt gnawed at her, a cold weight in her chest. Harrison had always...