GABE (Silicon Valley Billionaires 2)

“Then we close the deal and get her back as soon as everything’s signed. Hopefully, Levi can manage to intercept me before they put me on a plane.”

“I don’t want to deal in ‘hopefullys.’ That’s not good enough.”

“Hopefully, we won’t have to.”

“Ha-ha.” Bethany didn’t sound amused. “So, then what happens? We have you and we have Hannah, but Li Na gets Paragon? That’s the end? She just…wins?”

I shook my head. “No. Then I invent something better with my new company, and I steal the market back from her.”

Bethany held up her hand for a high five. “I like it.”

“Let’s just hope I can pull it off once this is all over.”

“You will.” Bethany sounded confident. “That’s why every single one of your employees is following you to the new company—you’ve got the goods. We all believe in you.”

I pierced some crispy tofu with my fork. “I just hope you’re right.”

“I’m always right,” Bethany reminded me, “which is why my hourly fee’s so outrageous.”

GABE

“You can take a shift watching the surveillance feed,” Ash offered. He and the rest of the guys were spread out around the stale-smelling condo. Empty coffee cups littered every available space.

“Thanks.” I jumped up, stretched, and headed for the chairs in front of the monitors. “Better than sitting here, reading emails.”

I’d been reviewing documents that Kami had sent over. She’d finalized the paperwork for the sale to Lauren. I would be excited about it if I could focus on anything other than anxiety-fueled waiting. We had to get Hannah back. Today. I couldn’t risk Lauren trying to save her sister—and we’d officially run out of time.

I sat down and checked the various video feeds set up around the house: there was nothing to see except a normal, sunny, endless day in Northern California.

And then a crack appeared at the bottom of the garage door.

And it kept getting bigger.

“Ash.” I pointed at the screen. “There’s movement—I think they’re coming out.”

Ash cursed and got on the phone, barking orders at Brian or one of the other guys who were out near the house. I kept my eyes glued to the screen. The garage door opened fully, and a white SUV backed out.

“Get a picture—but stay the hell out of his sight line!” Ash yelled into the phone.

No one in the room took a breath as we watched the car back out and drive down the street. “Are they following them?” I asked. “Are we going to intercept them?”

“We have another car down the street—they’ll pull out and tail them. But we won’t go after them, not unless Hannah’s in the car.”

The room crackled with tension.

Ash got a call. “Are you sure? Okay. Just follow him.”

He turned to us. “Only the driver’s in the car—Brian got a clean picture.” He hustled to his laptop and opened a file in Dropbox, his knee bouncing up and down as the pictures populated the screen. He opened the facial-recognition software.

I watched as he used the arrows to target the new picture. The program beeped.

“Yeah, motherfucker!” Ash jumped up and did a fist pump. “It’s the same guy—I knew it, I knew it!”

I frowned at my brother. “But you already knew it. That’s why we’re here.”

“I know—I just really enjoy being right.”

I shook my head at him, exasperated.