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Overwhelming.

Every moment felt like a struggle because, rightly or wrongly, I felt everything rested on my shoulders.

My bed beckoned—

Damn. I didn’t put away my paperwork.

I headed over to the administration building and was horrified, upon trying the door, to find it unlocked.

How…?

You werethinking about Demetrius. About how much fun you had last night. Once you got over your nerves, anyway. And how you ran away like a headless chicken.

And apparently had forgotten to lock the administration building.

I wasn’t really worried about the campers. They didn’t seem like the type for hijinks. The staff would obviously keep away. So unless someone had come onto the property…

My office door was at least closed—although not locked.

Overall, I hoped nothing bad had happened.

I opened the door and headed to my desk.

And stopped short.

My breath caught.

My gaze darted around the room—as if the answers were contained within these walls.

Panic rose within me.

You have to breathe. No one will come to your rescue if you have a panic attack.

Keegan’s episode earlier in the day had been a sober reminder of my past. Of that period immediately after I’d left Vancouver. When my life had fallen apart. Although actual panic attacks had been rare, I’d lived with a gnawing sense of fear for all these years.

Slowly, I advanced to the desk.

Dog treats and a little chew toy.

To be precise, my favorite dog treats and a chew toy identical to the one I’d had all those years ago.

Six years is not that long ago. You tell yourself that you’re old…but that’s not exactly true.

Because, in this moment, all those panicky feelings returned with a vengeance. Clearly someone knew who I was. Had remembered me from all those years ago. Except that made no sense, so the alternative was someonehad spoken to Gary. Except that didn’t make sense either because, although he knew I liked to dress up like a dog and play with other puppies, he didn’t know my favorite toys and treats. Treats made for dogs, but that could be eaten by humans. Toys that squeaked.

I grabbed my messenger bag and shoved them in. I removed the laptop from the docking station—to which it had been locked securely—and I put that in my bag as well. I would have to disconnect it from the Wi-Fi and run it through a virus protection program because I had no way of knowing if someone had come in here and attempted to access the data. My heart caught in my throat.

Nothing appeared out of place. I didn’t keep paper files on the kids—or even notes. Cody had password-protected files that only he, Alessandra, and Kennedy could access. I had an admin override, but that was only for dire emergencies. And only if I couldn’t reach any of the three who had access.

I should’ve been relieved—but I wasn’t. I’d screwed up badly.Do I call Alessandra and let her know? How bad of a mess is this? Did someone see who came into the office?

We had cameras along the edge of the property line—in case someone tried to get in to cause damage. But we’d opted not to have them in the camp itself. People might feel like every moment of their lives was recorded, but here we tried to make it a safe space. Where campers could be themselves and not worry.

I ensured my office windows were fastened and secure before locking the door to my office. Once I had all the lights turned off, I exited the building and bolted that door as well.

No one was about.

After today’s morning hike and afternoon swimming, I hoped—once campfire was over—the teens would be ready for lights-out.