HANNAH (Silicon Valley Billionaires 3)

She rolled her eyes. “Fine.”

“Fine.” But if Dr. Kim said no work, I wasn’t going to be fine. Not for much longer. The icing on the cake was Hannah’s panic attack last night, followed by Jim Pace’s funeral this morning.

I was done with the waiting.

Chapter 13

Wes

“Are you really going to look for a new place?” Gabe motioned to the patio we were sitting at, his glorious lawn stretching out all around us. “All this isn’t enough for you?”

I chuckled. “I love it here—but now that Ellis is back, I want him to have my house. I hope it’s okay if I stay until then.”

“We want you here. It’s safer, and quite frankly, you’re much nicer to have around than Levi. You can stay forever, as far as we’re concerned.”

“Thanks, buddy. That means a lot.”

His kind words didn’t stop me from wincing at the thought of being separated from Hannah, or from frowning at my dinner. I pushed the tofu around with my fork.

“What’s the matter, bean curd doesn’t excite you?” Gabe joked.

“Do we ever get to eat meat again?” I kept my voice low, hoping Lauren and Hannah couldn’t hear me from the kitchen.

Gabe speared a pale rectangle of tofu and inspected it. “Let’s go to the steakhouse Friday night. I’ll ask my brothers to come—ask Ellis, too. Guys’ night.”

“I am so in.”

Lauren and Hannah came out to the patio. I forced myself to smile and simultaneously willed my stomach to hold down the slimy tofu. Jesus, do people actually think this is good?

Hannah patted my hand. “You’re such a good sport with your vegan meal, honey.”

I coughed. “It’s good. Really good.”

Gabe started laughing, and Lauren rolled her eyes at him. “Remember when we started dating? You stopped eating red meat to be supportive.”

“I was trying to get you into my bed.” He reached out and put his hand possessively over hers. “Now we’re engaged, babe. We’re in for better or for worse territory.” He held up an offending piece of tofu. “This is the ‘worse’ part. The steak is the ‘better’ part—better because I get to eat it again, and you can’t run away from me, because you’d have to take me to court.”

Lauren giggled. I’d worked for her for two years, and I’d never heard her laugh before she met Gabe.

Then her phone buzzed, and she jumped up. “It’s Leo—I need to take this.”

Lauren spoke to him for only a minute, but when she hung up, she looked pale. “Li Na hacked into our system again just now. I have to get to the lab.”

“Is this what you weren’t telling me at Jim’s service—she’s been in the server again?” Hannah glared.

“I thought you were dealing with enough for one morning.” Lauren grabbed her plate, and Gabe and Hannah both got up to follow her. “No—you two stay here. Depending on what the damage is, I might need you both tomorrow for a planning session. I’ll find out what she’s up to, and then we’ll take action. Okay?”

Gabe and Hannah both frowned, and Lauren frowned right back, not bothering to coddle them. “I won’t be long.” She left before they could argue further.

Gabe looked as if he’d like to smash something. “I don’t know what the hell Li Na’s doing now.”

“I don’t, either,” Hannah said. “Lauren and I were just talking about it—what could she be after? She knows Lauren won’t sell. She’s already seen most of the proprietary information.”

“And she’s busy terrorizing Fiona Pace into selling her company,” I finished. I cringed, thinking of how frail Fiona had looked at the service this morning, how devastated she was about her husband.

Hannah looked to Gabe. “Lauren said you have a theory about Li Na and what she’s after. I don’t understand how she could do these things—have people kidnapped and murdered—just for money.”

Gabe scrubbed a hand across his face. “It’s not just for the money. Money would be too easy, and Li Na already has plenty of it.”