“Ohh, Ashe,” she cried.
My head whipped around when the alert alarm sounded from my tablet.
I jerked upright. My hand froze between her thighs.
“Oh my God. What is that?” she asked, panting the words. Journey pressed her knees together.
It was a high-pitched alarm, guaranteed to wake me even in a deep sleep. I had it set for emergency updates. I didn’t like that it was sounding off now. I couldn’t ignore it. Not even when we were about to have everything we wanted.
“Wait here. I’ll be right back. Just give me a second,” I instructed, walking into the great room. My devices were plugged in and resting on the kitchen table.
My tablet blinked and the siren wailed from the small speaker.
I pressed mute and read the alert on the screen. I had to scan it a second time to make sure I read it correctly.
Journey appeared in the doorway with the quilt wrapped around her naked shoulders. “Ashe? What is it? What’s wrong? Did they catch him? Please tell me that’s what it is.”
I rubbed the back of my neck. “You didn’t tell me you had email threats.” I stared at her. “You’ve never mentioned your email. Not once.”
“What are you talking about?” She stepped closer.
“I asked for details. Everything. Anything. How many times have we gone over the past six months? I said you couldn’t leave any detail out. Nothing.”
“Why do you sound so mad at me? What happened, Ashe?”
I held up the screen. “This. This is what happened. I got the report back on your email account. You’ve had fifty-five threats from the same account. The IP address changed ten times, but there’s no mistake, you had a repeated threat.”
How could she have withheld this information? Didn’t she know I was doing everything in my power to catch this guy?
“Let me see that.” She took the tablet from my hands and read the top briefing of the report. “I’ve never seen these.” She looked at me. “I haven’t had any threatening emails.”
“They’re all right here, J. Fifty-five.” I hadn’t read more than a few keywords from them.
“I’ve never seen them.” She remained defiant. “How did you even get into my email?”
“My team analyzed all your traffic,” I answered. “They scoured your social media too. I should have a report that cross-references this address with any posts.”
“You didn’t ask me about that.” She shoved the tablet into my hands.
“Ask? I had to get an analysis on all threatening activity.”
She turned away. “So you hacked my accounts? Did you break into my phone too? Is that why I can’t have it?”
“Hold on. We’re getting off target here.” I tossed the tablet on the counter. “I have a potential lead. These emails could lead us to your attacker and you’re pissed at me?”
She pulled the quilt tighter. It was starting to slip against her arm. There was a thin sliver of moonlight falling across the floor like a line dividing the room in half. Journey was on her side and I was on mine.
“I’m pissed about everything,” she answered.
“That’s fair.” I lowered my voice. I didn’t want this to escalate into a fight, but I knew we were past that point.
“And you think it’s justified? All your actions? Keeping me hidden. Hacking my personal information. Heading up the investigation. Every decision you’ve made for a week without even asking my opinion. You believe those were the right calls to make?”
“I do.” I pressed my lips together.
“Then I’m going back to bed. Alone.”
Twelve