Lauren (Silicon Valley Billionaires 1)

“Lauren?” she asked, peering at the screen, inspecting me. Her English was perfect, with only the slightest accent. “You look older than twenty-five. Maybe it’s a good thing that you’re taking a break from the office.”

I glared at her. “I’d hardly call this a break. Last I checked, this is still an office.”

She raised an eyebrow at me. “You’re pretty dry, huh? I’ve heard that about you. Once an engineer, always an engineer.”

I shook my head. “I’m not an engineer.”

“But you talk like one.” She sat back on her desk and looked at me thoughtfully. “Pretty, though. Too bad you’re married to your work. Sorry it didn’t work out with that CEO—Betts. He was handsome.”

I grimaced at the mention of Gabe’s name. That was the last thing I wanted to hear from Li Na’s lips. “Last I heard, you were divorced. So I’m not sure why you think you have room to talk,” I said sharply, before I could stop myself.

She laughed a little. “I was married back when I was boring. Back when I thought there was only one way to do things.” She paused for a beat and folded her hands together. “Thankfully, things have changed. All sorts of things.”

I assumed that she meant there was now more than one way to get ahead in the global biomedical marketplace. For instance, stealing the technology of a stronger company. But in a rare instance of self-control, I kept my mouth shut. Clive said he’d never figured out what made Li Na tick. I’d vowed that I was going to.

I’d also promised Gabe and Hannah that I would stay alive.

“Seems like all your suitors are disappearing. Clive Warren was interested in you, you know. In a personal way,” Li Na said.

I struggled to keep my cool. “We had a professional relationship when he was on my board. After Clive got caught up with you, he seemed to lose his good judgment. I have no idea what his interests were after that. But I do know that his death was senseless. Unnecessary.”

I watched her for signs of distress, but she only nodded, looking thoughtful. “I’m not sure that Clive Warren ever really had good judgment. When I met him, all he wanted to do was brag. Brag about his company, his money, his influential connections. That’s what got him into trouble in the first place. But I’m not surprised that you’re being kind about him. Americans are like that—overly sentimental.”

I just blinked at the screen. “I don’t think calling his murder senseless and unnecessary is being overly sentimental.”

Li Na shrugged dismissively. “This is getting boring faster than I anticipated. Let’s move on. You’re here because you have a job to do for me, and you are not completing it quickly enough.”

I took a deep breath. “I agreed to help you, but we have a deal, remember? You agreed that if I do this, you’ll leave me alone for good. Leave Paragon alone, as well as all my associates. I’m under no obligation to you, Li Na. If I think you’re going to double-cross me, I’m walking out of here.”

She shook her head and chuckled with more casual animation than I’d imagined her capable of. “You think I’m going to let you just walk out? If you don’t want to do what I ask, I suggest you consider Clive Warren’s fate. And then get back to work.”

Timmy grimaced next to me.

“You’re going to stab me?” I asked. We hadn’t brought any equipment to tape Li Na or gather evidence against her. She’d told me ahead of time that we would be searched, and everything we brought in would be confiscated. I wasn’t asking her about Clive’s death because I wanted to build a case against her. I asked her because I wanted to hear her say it.

“Only if I have to,” she said, shrugging. “I’m a CEO, Lauren. Just like you. I appreciate your

singular brilliance. I don’t like to waste assets.” She smoothed her jacket and looked at me.

“I am not your asset.” I leaned toward the screen, my anger mounting. “And I don’t understand. If you’re so brilliant, why can’t you figure the patch’s technology out for yourself? Why do you need me to do it for you?”

She cocked her head and frowned at me. “Not everyone has your particular gifts, Lauren. Don’t underestimate yourself.”

I shook my head at her. “I don’t underestimate myself. Maybe my weakness is that I overestimate the humanity and decency of others. Because really—what gives you the right to take what’s not yours?”

She shrugged again. “No one has given me the right. But I’m not waiting for permission.”

I bit my lip. She was not going to be talked out of her present course of action. Clive had warned me about her from beyond the grave, and I had a duty to listen to him. I didn’t have a lot of choice about what I could do. As her captive, I was a one-trick pony. I needed to use that one trick to my advantage, to protect the people I loved and the technology I’d worked so hard for.

There was no reasoning with her. She had no remorse. I’d known before that she would do anything to get what she wanted, but talking to her had clearly driven that message home.

“I should be able to finish this in the next few days.”

“You need to be faster,” she said. “I know how close Paragon is to launching. I’m going to launch first, Lauren. I have everything ready to go—my government’s blessing, the distribution channels, everything. That’s why you’re here. You’re the only one who’s been able to figure this technology out. While you’re here, your company will languish without you. I know who you are. You work alone. Your singular brilliance is also your weakness, as far as I can see.”

I swallowed hard, watching her face. “What the hell does that mean?”

“It means that no one else can do what you do. That’s why Clive failed, and that’s why I’ve failed so far. That’s why your board of directors has continued to support you, even when you’ve been shrouded in secrecy and exercised pitiful judgment. No one can launch the patch but you. That’s why you’re here, and that’s why I know I’ll beat you to market.”