The accounting department began to empty for the day.
Desktops clicked off one after another, chairs scraped back, and tired laughter echoed faintly across the wide, glass-walled hall.
It had been a long day...files, numbers, spreadsheets and everyone was ready to call it a night.
Nana stretched at her desk, gathering her files. "Finally done," she sighed. "See you tomorrow, Martha."
Martha smiled faintly. "Goodnight, Nana. Rest well."
Lizzy passed by next, her bag slung neatly over her shoulder. "Lock up when you're done," she said, voice clipped but polite.
"I will," Martha replied.
Within minutes, the entire hall grew quiet...just the low hum of the air conditioner and the blinking red light of the central printer.
Martha was about to shut down her system when the glass door slid open again.
Gabriella walked in, calm and collected, a folder tucked under her arm.
"Martha," she said softly.
Martha straightened immediately. "Ma'am."
Gabriella stopped beside her desk, laying the folder down. "During our meeting earlier today, the Chairman requested that the southern branch reports be finalized before the board review. We need clean reconciliations for both delayed outlets before morning."
Martha blinked. "Before morning?"
Gabriella's tone was matter-of-fact. "Yes. The team was supposed to handle it tomorrow, but since you're already ahead on the Warehouse Two figures, I trust you can complete this tonight. It shouldn't be too much."
Martha hesitated.
Her hands were trembling slightly from fatigue. "I'll get it done, ma'am."
"Good." Gabriella's smile was faint...more professional than kind. "Email me once it's ready. I'll be checking from home."
With that, she turned and left, her heels echoing sharply across the floor until the doors closed behind her.
The evening reeze was cool as Gabriella stepped out of the building.
The parking lot lights flickered faintly against rows of cars.
She paused...her sleek silver car was parked right beside a familiar one.
Fred Thompson's.
He was in the driver's seat, phone in hand, eyes on the building's glass entrance.
Waiting.
Of course.
He always waited for Martha.
Gabriella smiled, straightened her blazer, and walked up to his window.
He rolled it down slightly, his usual warm face dimmed by concern.
"Hi, ex-boyfriend," she said with a faint teasing smile. "Still waiting for your girlfriend?"
Fred's brow furrowed a little, uncertain of her tone. "Yeah, Martha's still inside. She is already done right?"
Gabriella chuckled softly. "Oh, she actually left already. Didn't you see her?"
He turned sharply. "Left? No, she didn't..."
"She rushed off in a hurry," Gabriella interrupted smoothly. "She said I should tell you she was heading to see a church friend who just had an accident. She'll call you later at night."
Fred's frown deepened. "That doesn't sound like her." He checked his phone again. "No message, no missed call."
"Maybe she didn't have time," Gabriella said lightly, opening her car door. "She looked worried."
Fred's gut twisted.
He dialed Martha's number.
Switched off.
That only deepened his worry. "Martha would never go anywhere without telling me herself," he muttered under his breath.
Gabriella tilted her head. "You're worried too much, Fred. You know how devoted she is to her church."
But Fred wasn't listening anymore.
He gripped his steering wheel tightly, started the engine, and drove off fast.
He needed to call the church administrators, find out if anyone had truly been in an accident.
Gabriella stood still, watching his taillights vanish into the dark.
Then slowly...a sinister smile crept onto her lips.
She pulled out her phone and dialed a number.
"Hi, Dave," she said softly, her voice low and syrupy. "I just noticed something interesting. You have a crush on Martha Smith, don't you?"
There was silence on the other end...a heavy, deliberate breath.
Gabriella continued, her tone turning mischievous.
"Well, I thought you should know… she'll be working overnight tonight. All alone. No one around."
"Are you sure?" Dave's voice was husky, trembling with excitement.
"I never say what I'm not sure of."
"Thank you so much" he said slowly.
Gabriella smiled faintly, slipped her phone into her purse, and got into her car.
Her eyes glimmered in the rear-view mirror as she whispered to herself...
"Let's see how perfect Martha still looks after tonight."
Martha sat there for a moment, staring at the folder.
Her stomach growled softly.
She hadn't eaten since morning.
The task was enormous.
Two full reconciliations...over forty pages of ledger summaries and cross-branch comparisons.
Something the whole team was meant to finish tomorrow was what she was to complete that evening.
Still, she opened the folder and began.
Hours passed.
The office lights felt harsher as the sky outside deepened into indigo.
Martha's fingers tapped rhythmically over the keyboard, eyes burning as numbers blurred into one another.
She adjusted the columns, recalculated balances, and corrected receipts.
The office was quiet except for the faint clicking of Martha's keyboard.
She was rounding up the task.
To ease her nerves, she began to hum "Blessed Assurance."
Her soft voice filled the empty hall.
Then...footsteps.
Faint, slow, approaching.
She froze.
Her heart pounded.
Please, Lord... not Dave Benson.
But to her greatest dismay...it was him.
Martha gasped and stepped back. "Dave!"
He moved toward her aggressively, a dark, unsettling look in his eyes.
He licked his lips, voice low and twisted. "Do you know how long I've imagined you without anything on? To touch you... every part of your body!"
Before she could move, his hand gripped her waist.
Martha's only instinct was prayer.
Her trembling lips began to recite Psalm 91.
"He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty…"
Ever since she lost her parents five years ago, that scripture had been her anchor.
The Lord had become her father and mother.
Her everything.
She stopped shaking.
Her faith steadied her as Dave fumbled with the buttons of her dress.
Tears filled her eyes, but she whispered, "The Lord will not let you succeed tonight. I promise you that".
He slapped her and unbottoned her dress more aggressively.
Then suddenly....one of the desks around them slid sharply across the floor, striking Dave hard.
He stumbled and fell.
Martha gasped and looked up.
A man stood there.
Tall, light-skinned, with a face so radiant it seemed to glow in the dim light.
He smiled gently.
Her breath caught.
Was he... Jesus?
He had a striking resemblance with the Jesus she'd seen in her revelations.
Dave tried to scramble away, but the man stepped forward and punched him hard across the jaw.
Blood trickled from Dave's mouth as he crawled out of the hall, defeated and terrified.
The room fell silent.
Martha stood frozen, tears streaming down her face, barely aware that her dress hung half open.
The stranger turned to her calmly. "You can take your time to put your dress back on... before I see you off.". He turned away to give her privacy to cover her exposed body.
Her hands trembled as she fastened her buttons, whispering, "Thank you, Jesus."
She grabbed her bag and phone, then took a hesitant step closer to him. "Are you... Jesus?" she asked softly.
He turned and chuckled at the seriousness in her tone.
Just then, his phone rang.
"Oh! I see," he said after answering. "I was thinking it was this building. Turns out my patient's building is the one directly in front of this building. The two buildings look almost the same. I'll be there right away, sir."
He hung up and turned to her with an apologetic smile.
Martha blinked in confusion.
He explained quickly, "I'm a medical doctor ... a family doctor, actually. One of my patients relocated, and this is my first time trying to find his new place. My GPS must have misled me here."
Tears welled in her eyes again. "The Lord made you lose your way because of me. It's a pleasure meeting you." She reached out, and he shook her hand...his grip firm, protective.
He studied her for a moment. "Why are you the only one here? Where are your colleagues?".
She sighed, their hands dropping. "My head of department asked me to complete some urgent tasks."
"Without any security around?"
"There usually are," she said quietly. "But I think Dave manipulated them... because of what he planned to do to me tonight."
"Do you know him personally?"
She nodded faintly. "He's the CEO's son."
Raymond frowned. "Are you saying that'll stop you from calling the police?"
"I'll only report it within the organization," she replied.
"They'll do nothing about it," he said flatly.
She lifted her chin, her voice calm but filled with conviction. "I have a father that I trust with my life.
He exhaled slowly. "My name is Raymond Whitmore. And you?"
"Martha Smith," she said softly. "It's a pleasure meeting you."
He gave a small nod. "Let me see you safely into a cab before I go to my patient."
Outside, he hailed a taxi and paid the fare himself.
Martha sank into the backseat, exhausted.
She stared at him from the car window gratefully. "I am so grateful".
He smiled.
As the car pulled away, she closed her eyes.
Everything felt like a dream ...
She was too tired to cry.
Too tired to scream.
Only one thought remained clear in her heart:
God was going to protect her.