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“The answer requires more privacy than this office provides.” I look toward the wastebasket where she found the paper fragments. “It also requires us to leave this room untouched.”

Cassie follows my eyes and takes one step toward the bin. “There might be enough left to tell us what was destroyed.”

“Drew will collect every piece.” I remove my phone and send him instructions to seal Accounts Payable, preserve the shredder contents, and bring Birdie upstairs. “We’ll speak in my office.”

Her chin rises. “Why is Birdie being brought upstairs?”

“Because you will feel safer with her present.” I return the phone to my pocket and open the door. “You should, given what you believe about me.”

Color touches her cheeks. “I would feel safer if people stopped appearing behind me in empty buildings.”

“Then stop entering empty buildings without permission.” I gesture toward the hall. “After you.”

She passes me with a look that would warn a less interested man to keep his distance. Her hair brushes my arm, carrying a faint scent of vanilla and rain. Minutes earlier, she stood between my arms, her palms against my chest and anger bright on her face. Frightening her wasn’t my intention, but her pulse raced while she refused to lower her eyes, leaving my cock hard beneath my trousers.

We leave Accounts Payable and cross the dim lobby toward the staircase. Through the tall windows, the tasting pavilion glows across the courtyard while the quartet plays.

Cassie reaches the landing and looks back. “Are you going to explain why someone was shredding financial documents during your event?”

“After Drew determines who entered the office.” I open the door at the end of the hall and let her in first. “Until then, we don’t know that the documents were related to Connor.”

“You don’t believe in coincidences any more than I do.” She stops inside my private office and studies the room. “And this has been a very busy week for coincidences.”

The observation is accurate. My corner office overlooks the production yard and vineyard, with walnut shelves lining the walls and a meeting table near the windows.

Cassie notices the books first. Her eyes move along the shelves, pause on a leather-bound collection of Chekhov, then return to me.

“You have a first edition of The Master and Margarita in your office,” she says, keeping her hands away from it. Even frightened, the bookstore owner reads every shelf she passes.

“Sit wherever you prefer.” I indicate the chair with the clearest view of the door, careful not to disturb the pistol concealed at the back of my waistband. She chooses it without comment, confirming that she is more uneasy than her questions suggest.

Footsteps approach in the hall before Drew opens the office door. Birdie enters ahead of him, carrying a wineglass. Reid follows but stays near the doorway, looking between Cassie and me as he tries to figure out what happened.

Birdie crosses directly to Cassie and catches her arm. “Are you all right?”

“I’m fine,” Cassie assures her, rising as her cousin reaches her. “Drew found me in an office where I wasn’t supposed to be, and Andrei finally decided to tell me why Connor came to him.”

“That’s a very generous summary,” Drew says from the doorway. “She searched a wastebasket, invented three explanations, and accused the aspirin of sending her there.”

Birdie looks at Cassie. “The aspirin made you do it?”

“It was a complicated sequence of events.” Cassie touches her cousin’s arm. “I’ll explain later.”

Reid glances from the two women to me. “Tessa can cover another ten minutes before Sofia comes upstairs herself.”

“Stay with the event,” I tell him. “I’ll speak with you after I finish here.”

Concern lingers in Reid’s hazel eyes because he knows I wouldn’t abandon valuable guests without good reason.

I turn to Drew. “Seal Accounts Payable and the rear staircase. Collect the shredder contents, wastebasket, door records, and security footage from this building. Find out who entered that office after the event began.”

“The camera covering the rear stairs lost power,” Drew reminds me. “I’ll question every employee with access and compare their movements with the remaining feeds.”

“Keep the employees with access to Accounts Payable on-site until you’ve questioned them,” I tell Drew.

He gives a terse nod, then looks past me toward Cassie. “Do you want a statement from her?”

“Later. Give us privacy now.”