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I stood up. “Wait! Does that mean you’ve picked a date?”
It looked like I wasn’t the only one who’d been busy this weekend.
“First things first—let’s get the corporate terrorist out of our lives, then I’ll get married, okay?”
That sounded promising…if I could deliver on my plan. My palms started to sweat. “Okay.”
Lauren stuck her head back in. “And Hannah? I’m counting on you. I know you can do this.”
I blinked at my sister, who never so much as delegated an email. She was trusting me to flesh out the plan and make Li Na go away, once and for all.
“I won’t let you down.”
Her face softened. “Don’t worry. You never do.”
* * *
The rest of the week passed in a blur. Outside of work, I’d attended therapy and EMDR, started running again, met Fiona for yoga, and helped Wes begin a search for a new house. We’d also consummated our relationship approximately nine thousand more times. At Paragon, I’d been busy catching up with meetings, reviewing Lauren’s proposed prototype, and researching different blackmail candidates within Jiàn Innovations. I’d also thrown myself into updating my list of the best international healthcare business news outlets—when the time came, I wanted the truth about Li Na Zhao heralded around the globe.
Poised to strike, I headed to Lauren’s office, where I paced with my arms crossed tight against my chest. “I think I found someone we can use, but you’re not going to like my reasoning.”
“Who is it?” she asked.
“Biyu Lin—Lin Biyu—in China the name order is reversed, so it’s technically Lin Biyu.”
Jittery with adrenaline, I grabbed her file and opened it on Lauren’s desk. Biyu’s pretty face stared up at me from her corporate photo, and a stab of guilt pierced my chest.
Lauren studied the photograph, frowning. “Why did you pick her? What am I not going to like?”
“I chose her because she got divorced recently and she has a young son.”
Lauren dropped the picture, her eyeballs bugging out of her head. “That’s your criteria?”
I nodded, twisting my bracelet. “She’s vulnerable. She needs money.”
“How do you know that?”
I kept twisting. “She started at Jiàn Innovations three months ago. She’s never held a corporate job before—she’s been home with her son. I had Leo do some digging, and public records indicate she got divorced right before she started at the company. She also moved to an apartment in a neighborhood where rent is cheap. Dave checked her bank account, which indicates she’s living paycheck to paycheck.”
Lauren looked appalled. “So you want to target a young, single, broke mother?”
“She works directly underneath Li Na’s top executive assistant. She’ll have access, although not as much as I’d like. The other reason I chose her is that she has a dual degree in English and computer science, so not only can we can communicate, she’ll be proficient with any technical requests I have.”
My sister looked at me as if I’d sprouted three heads. “What exactly are you planning?”
I went to the window and stared out at the grounds, reminding myself of what we were fighting for, even as my heart pounded. “I’m going to have Dave and Leo set up a fake email address so I can contact her. I’ll tell her I’m doing…market research. I’ll offer her money in exchange for information and see if she’s going to be cooperative.”
“What if she says no?”
“Then I’ll have to be more persuasive.”
“What if she runs to her boss? Or the police?” Lauren asked.
“I’ll let her know that’s not a great idea.”
“Because…?”
I didn’t move from the window. “Because if she tells anyone, she could be putting h
