Page 26 of The Mood Board

“Good.”

I glared at a passing officer carrying more stacks of papers. Were they return everything where they had found it after this was over? I doubted it.

If this was ever over. I had no idea how this would all play out and whether Liam would be home at the end of it.

That single thought was terrifying—what if Liam went to jail? For years? The anxiety began to build again, twisting my gut and forcing rising nausea up my throat.

No, I told myself forcefully, swallowing it all down. Focus on now.

Everything else was out of my control, except for this one thing, and I was going to control it. I had to be strong—I couldn’t even imagine what Liam was going through, and he would need me for support, and that meant not losing myself in the millions of what-ifs branching off from his moment.

Footsteps pounding across the porch caught my ear, and Bianca and I looked up to find Tom heading back out, down the steps past us, where he stepped in front of the officer who had knocked on the door. The man looked annoyed, but I didn’t think Tom cared—he began talking earnestly, waving his arms and gesticulating heatedly. I couldn’t hear what he was saying, but I could hear his tone of voice, and it was intimidating—his CTO voice, I imagined.

It took several minutes, but he finally marched back to Bianca and me, a look of triumph on his face that bordered on savage.

“I found out where they took him, at least,” he said grimly. “They wouldn’t tell me anything else. Said they can’t say anything about an open investigation.”

That was not what I wanted to hear, and I had to swallow against more tears. “I can’t believe this is happening.”

“Does this have to do with that stupid letter?” Tom asked.

“It has to be,” I replied.

“What letter?” Bianca asked. Her eyes grew wide as Tom filled her in.

“Well, we know it’s not true. We all know Liam, and he would never do this. I wasn’t as involved in the first round of funding as Liam, but there is no way in hell he would have taken money from an illegal source or in an illegal way. That’s bullshit.”

I wasn’t sure I had ever seen Tom so mad. Then again, I had never seen him in a situation like this—I don’t think any of us had been in a situation like this.

“The police look like they’ve already convicted him.” I knew I sounded hopeless because I was trying desperately to fight the feeling.

“Well, even if they have, I haven’t. I know he’s innocent, and I’m going to prove it.” At his sides, Tom’s hands balled into tight fists, his jaw clenched so tightly I saw a vein pulsing in his neck. If this was difficult for me, it had to be just as bad for Tom. Liam wasn’t only his boss and business partner—they had been best friends since elementary school. “I’m going to figure out what I can myself.”

“Like an investigation?” I asked cautiously, quietly, glancing at the officers and agents around us.

“Yes.”

The idea sounded ridiculous, and it was. What did we know? But then again, we knew Liam best.

Hope began as a small ball of light inside me. It wasn’t growing yet, but at least it was there. Hope and conviction.

“I’ll help,” I said.

“Me, too.” We both looked at Bianca, and she smirked. “What? Like I’m going to let my boss go down for something he didn’t do? I’m sure as hell going to fight that.”

Tom looked at her, an expression crossing his face I could read as easily as words on a page—admiration and something more. I wasn’t sure Tom even knew it was there, and when his phone rang and he stepped away to answer it, I looked at Bianca.

“So you guys were just playing video games?” I asked.

“Just playing video games,” Bianca confirmed breezily, but the slight flush was back on her cheeks.