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They laughed again. Louder this time.
“Wait. What?” Jackson widened his eyes when I didn’t join them in their amusement.
“Does Jo know your plans?” Davina’s mouth twisted in a smile. “She’d never go for that, you know. She’s so wrapped up in getting Gold Moon back on track and doing what her father clearly couldn’t. She already has a personal mission, and that doesn’t appear to include you.” She shrugged. “I know you’re used to getting what you want every time you want it, but maybe this time…” She paused. “That woman is so blinded by recent events, I don’t think she can even see straight, to be honest.”
This time, I laughed as memories of Jo flooded my mind. “Well, she saw me just fine in this office the other day.”
“Ew.” Davina held a hand up, clearly not wanting any more details.
Not that I was about to share them.
“Our relationship is…progressing.” I nodded, confirming that word to myself as I spoke it. “I didn’t think I was ready to let another woman into my life. But then I met Jo, and suddenly I was. The thing is, it might not be marriage straight away, but I do want it to be. In fact, I have a deal in mind for Jo to accept my proposal—”
“Not sure marriage is about deals, dude.” Jackson interrupted me, but I flashed a quick glare to shut him down.
“But.” I emphasized the word, both in reprimand of Jackson cutting me off and to ensure they were both listening. “I do need my leadership team onboard. I can’t make any of these future plans happen without you. And look, this thing with Jowillbe a marriage. We work well together, and I trust her. If I’m going to get married and ensure more security for the new direction, she’s the best person for this job.”
Davina sighed. “Well, okay. I guess I’ll follow your lead. For now,” she added. “But as soon as this shit falls through with Jo, and she doesn’t go for whatever the hell plot you’re cooking up to become the city’s Mr. Nice Guy, I’m out, and Apex can go back to pillaging and plundering criminal corporations.”
I nodded. That wouldn’t remotely be an issue.
31
JOSEPHINE
Watching Brody scan through photographs on the laptop he’d set up in the condo Charmaine was staying in made me almost itchy. It didn’t seem to be enough to sit here and look at pictures like we were all admiring someone’s holiday snapshots. Not when we could be out there doing something, and going to the warehouse ourselves.
As if he could sense my dissatisfaction, Brody suddenly glanced up. “Sit down, Jo. You’re not making this process any faster by hovering like that.”
Girard drew out a chair and patted the seat. “Park it right here.” He looked at me unwaveringly. He definitely knew my first instinct was to hightail it out of there, right back to the warehouse.
Charmaine sat a little farther away. Every so often, she glanced in the direction of the screen, but she probably couldn’t see any detail. Maybe she didn’t want to.
She hadn’t been enthralled with the idea of returning to the warehouse, but maybe this wasn’t any better for her.
“There.” Brody stopped his scrolling and moved back to the previous image. “What’s this? Is it a label?” He zoomed in on one of the boxes, the pixels rearranging themselves as he tried to clean it up and bring it into better focus.
I nodded. “Yeah. I think Wes said he’d tried to take things like that. Useful images.”
It was the whole reason he hadn’t shifted, after all. He’d been too busy trying to gather evidence.
Charmaine moved closer, her interest seemingly piqued, and she rested a hand on Brody’s shoulder as she leaned closer to the screen. He tensed at her touch, but then remained entirely focused on his task.
“That’s an ID number,” she said. “If we run it through the company database, it should tie it to the Gold Moon employee who approved it.” She grinned. “That’s a fairly new feature I’ve recently implemented, so I’m still not sure who even knows it exists, or who’s actually following through on it.” She grabbed her bag and took out her laptop. “Look, let me show you.”
She set her laptop on the table and quickly logged into the Gold Moon system.
“What are you doing?” Brody was focused wholly on her screen.
“Logging into work.” She spoke like it was obvious. Theduhon the end of her reply was left unsaid, but we probably all heard it.
“What? No.” He shook his head, exasperation clear. “No remote access to files should be that easy. You’re wide open to someone else hacking or manipulating the system.” He leaned over as if he might start working on Charmaine’s computer instead of his own, but I touched his arm, drawing his attention to me.
“You can audit our systems later, if you like,” I said. Hell, I probably needed an expert to really dig down and tell me what to do. If Dad’s paperwork had been a little chaotic, it was almost guaranteed his technology was in the exact same state or even worse. “Right now, though, the only mission we have is finding out who attacked Wes.”
Brody hesitated, but didn’t seem to switch his attention away from the Gold Moon records.
“Right?” I glanced at Girard.
