“They’re driving down the price of my work.” She thought she’d been stunned before.
“Genedyne is literally built on nothing. It’s a work of fiction fueled by fear of Jessica Layne,” Cara pronounced. “And I’m going to take her down. Hutch gave us an excellent start, and he believes no one is going to even question that he has the financial data because Layne will be so concerned with the data breach on research.”
His eyes were intense as he stared at her. “That was not my intention.”
But he would use it. She understood that. There was no reason to put his investigation at risk when the damage was already done.
Jessica Layne had taken everything from her. Including Hutch, since she now knew what he truly thought of her. He might care about her, but he’d lied to her.
It seemed like everyone had. There was only one way to handle it. She had to fight, had to throw all of her personal feelings to the side and survive this the best way she could.
She turned to Cara. “I’m going to help you. What do you want me to do?”
Chapter Seventeen
Two hours later Noelle sat on a spanking bench contemplating the turns her life had taken.
When she’d woken up this morning, she’d had a promising career, a relationship with a man she was falling in love with, and a nice apartment that she could feel comfortable in.
Now her career was in shambles, her boyfriend had lied to her, and she was a prisoner in a dungeon. She wasn’t technically in the dungeon, but Sanctum had one. The second floor was a big old dungeon complete with a hamster wheel that was being used by her bodyguard, who needed to literally run away from his demons.
She was confused and on edge, and she wasn’t sure what to do with it. She was never going to be able to sleep.
Was this how Madison had felt before someone had set her lab on fire with her in it?
Why had Madison texted her name to Cara?
Why had Hutch done what he’d done?
The questions pounded at her brain, making her hands shake with the need to… She wasn’t even sure what she needed to do, and that was part of the problem.
Tomorrow she’d promised to call her father, and then she would probably have to go back to Louisiana because they couldn’t keep a 24/7 guard on her for long. She would go home and be that poor pitiful girl she’d been. She loved Papillon, but gossip was a big part of life there, and she would be a story. A cautionary tale about what happened when a young woman tried to fly too high.
Sanctum was her home for now. Given what had happened to Madison, they hadn’t been willing to risk even letting her go back to Hutch’s place. She was stuck in what they called a “safe room.”
It was late and Sanctum had finally closed down, though Hutch and Big Tag were still talking, and MaeBe had promised to run by Noelle’s place to grab some clothes for her. Kyle had been the one to settle her into this room. She wondered how many other “safe” houses had spanking benches in them.
Tomorrow Chris and Cara would figure out if they had enough data to charge Jessica Layne. They would decide if she would try to get more. There had been a lot of talk about how she would get back into the building. Hutch had shot every single scenario full of holes until the special agent had thrown up her hands and told Ian Taggart she would talk to him tomorrow.
Where the hell would she be in a week’s time? Back in Papillon, hoping someone would let her teach high school chemistry? Would she be fighting off a lawsuit that would take everything she had? Jessica Layne wasn’t known for backing down. Even if she was in the middle of an indictment, she would still come after Noelle.
Her life was utterly changed, and she had no idea how to stop it.
There was no stopping it. This would change her life as surely as the car accident had. She’d never seen it coming, and it would affect her forever.
There was a knock on her door, and there was no question who was on the other side. “Go away, Hutch.”
She didn’t need to hear about how heroic he’d been. She didn’t need to hear about how he’d risked everything to ensure she wasn’t prosecuted for a crime she hadn’t even come close to committing. Did he think she didn’t know anything about the law? She’d grown up in a law enforcement family.
The door opened even though she was sure she’d locked it. This man didn’t need keys to get through a door. He’d proven that tonight. Of course she was also in a space he felt comfortable in.