She sighed, knowing she wouldn’t be able to get away with sidestepping the question. “I think I’m doing as well as can be expected. It’s just going to take some time before I’m ready to move on.”
Corina and Allye nodded somberly. Each of them knew the truth of her words from personal experience.
“So could we talk about something more fun? Like my mom’s surprise birthday party next Sunday or someone’s upcoming wedding?” Hailey gave Allye a meaning look.
Her cousin immediately brightened. “You know, I do have a fun update for you.”
Hailey let herself relax as the conversation shifted to more comfortable ground. She was so pleased Eric and Allye had found each other or, rather, finally admitted they belonged together. The two had fought a hard battle to get where they were today. They deserved their happily ever after.
12
Hailey had no cluewho she was dealing with.
I scowled and took a sip of my Condrieu. The woman was going to ruin everything, and she didn’t even realize it.
Despite my warnings, she was still refusing to budge. I’d known it would take more than a little pressure to scare her off, but I was trying to be nice. A sigh escaped my lips. I really had tried.
If time weren’t an issue, I’d just keep hitting those pressure points, knowing she’d come around eventually. But I couldn’t wait for that. The situation was volatile, and it would only grow more so as time passed. I had one more plan in place, but if she didn’t take the hint, I was going to have to step things up, and fast. I had to regain control.
If I didn’t ... I shook my head. I couldn’t think like that. It simply wasn’t an option. I had known from the beginning that this was risky—but by the time I realized just how risky it was, I was in too deep.
I ran my finger along the edge of the glass. So far, everything had been worth it. If I had it to do over, I might make the same decisions. But that didn’t change the fact that discovery would be catastrophic.
I wouldn’t just lose everything. No, the stakes were far higher.Financial ruin was the least of my concerns. If he found out what we’d done—what I’d done—I’d be fleeing for my life.
And if he and his underlings ever caught me, I’d be wishing I’d died of a heart attack like Frank. The rumors of what he was capable of...
Though I prided myself on my cool composure, a shiver rippled up my spine.
With one last tip of the glass, I drained the last of my wine and pushed back from the table. I had plans to make. If Hailey wasn’t on her way out by tomorrow afternoon, I’d send her a message she couldn’t ignore.
13
Hailey avoidedher preferred back corner parking spot when she arrived at work on Monday. The distance from the cameras and close proximity to the tree line had never bothered her before, but she saw no reason to make it easy on whoever had targeted her last week. After finding that message on her garage door, she could no longer cling to the hope that the slashed tires had merely been the work of opportunistic vandals.
Once upstairs in her office, she powered up her computer and opened her inbox. Several client emails had piled up over the weekend, but an urgent one from her boss snagged her attention. She clicked on it and gasped as she gave the message a quick scan. Someone had accessed their office Friday night? It must have been the same people who ambushed Peter.
Gleason said they hadn’t yet figured out the motive of the break-in, and instructed everyone to check their equipment and personal effects to make sure nothing was missing or appeared tampered with.
She scanned her desk. The computer and monitor were obviously here and intact. She didn’t keep much else in the office—certainly nothing worth stealing—but she checked the contents of her desk drawers to be sure. Nothing seemed out of place.
For the next thirty minutes, she addressed emails from clients and organized her to-do list for the day. Once she had a battle plan in mind, she navigated to her priority client’s file and opened the most recent spreadsheet.
Or tried to.
When the program loaded, it contained nothing but gibberish. Pages and pages of gibberish.
She sat back, panic flaring. She’d just been in this file on Friday, and everything had been fine then. She tried another account that she hadn’t been in last week. That one was scrambled too. She clicked into Eukaria Investments. Same thing.
This was bad. Really bad.
Had she picked up a bug somehow? She pulled up her antivirus software and started a scan. Several minutes later, it came back clear. No viruses. No malware.
But her files were definitely corrupted.
After trying, and failing, to revert to an older version of the files, she restarted the computer.Please work, she pleaded as she booted everything up again. But when she reopened the first file, the same sight greeted her.
What should she do? She could download older copies of some of these files from her inbox and sent mail, but she would still lose days’ or even weeks’ worth of work.
