Laney’s cell chimed from her purse, which was on the leather club chair beside the door. “Would you care to grab that for me?” she asked without looking up.
Scrolling down the screen, Laney dissected each and every entry she’d made. Nothing was off, but—
Wait. She scrolled back up. That couldn’t be possible.
She stared at the screen again.
“Something wrong?” Viviana asked.
Laney leaned closer to the computer, sure she was mistaken. But she didn’t want to say anything to anyone until she could research things further. Braden would explode when he found out about the security breach. Still, she wanted to double-and triple-check everything before she went to him with this. There was no need to alarm anyone if she was misreading everything...but the odds of her being wrong were pretty much nil.
Her stomach turned. Who would hack into her system? Who had the balls big enough to go up against the O’Shea clan? How the hell had anyone gotten through all the security she’d installed?
The answer was simple. They weren’t hacked. This was an inside job.
“Laney?”
Fury raged through her as she turned to look at Viviana, who held out Laney’s phone. “You sure everything is okay?” she asked.
Laney nodded. “I think I’ve found the problem, but it’s going to take some time to fix. I’m going to take this laptop with me. Can you use one of the others?”
Viviana’s eyes widened for a second before she glanced around the office. “Of course. Is there anything I can do?”
Be on the lookout for the enemy?
“No. I’ve got it handled.” Laney looked at her phone, still in Viviana’s hand. “Oh, thanks.”
She saw Ryker’s name on the screen and opened the text. She’d left him sleeping the other night because she knew if she’d actually stayed, she’d want to spend every night there.
She had to make Ryker realize he wanted this. Perhaps if she wasn’t so available, he’d ache for her the way she did for him. She wanted him so needy for her, so desperate to have her in his life, he’d ignore his demons and take a chance. She wasn’t playing a game, she was simply opening his eyes to what they had.
Pulling up his message, she read:
We need to talk. Meet at Braden’s now.
Laney closed the program and shut the laptop. “I need to go. Call me if you have any more issues, no matter how minor.”
Viviana nodded and scooted back, and Laney headed toward the office door. “Of course.”
Laney tossed her phone back into her bag. Pulling on her wrap coat, she knotted the ties before grabbing the laptop and sliding it into the side of her bag, as well.
“There haven’t been any strange calls or emails, even from regular clients?” Laney asked as she slid the bag onto her forearm.
Viviana shifted, her head tipped as she glanced at the floor. “I can’t recall any. It’s pretty black and white here,” she told Laney, looking back up. “You think someone has been messing with the system?”
“I think it’s a possibility, and I want you to keep your eyes and ears open. Call me, not Braden or Mac, if you notice anything odd.”
She’d figure out what was going on in the meantime.
“Of course,” Viviana stated.
Laney headed through the main part of their office area and back out into the swirling snow. The streetlights lining each side of the street were decorated with simple, elegant evergreen wreaths with bright, cheery red bows. The garlands twisting around the poles ran from the wreath to the base. The city was battling the snowfall by keeping the sidewalks salted, the streets cleared. Laney absolutely loved her hometown of Beacon Hill and never wanted to be anywhere else.
As she climbed behind the wheel of her car, she wondered what Ryker wanted. Did he actually love Boston like she did, or did he love the lifestyle he led of traveling, going from one adventure to the next? Would he slow down, take fewer risks now that he was going to be a father?
Knowing Ryker...no. He would think he could do it all, as if he were invincible.
She headed toward her childhood home and pulled in behind Ryker’s SUV. Large, menacing, just like the man himself. That whole dark, mysterious persona he oozed was so damn sexy, but there was infinitely more to Ryker. The layers that made up that man were tightly woven together, but she wasn’t giving up on removing each one until she uncovered the very heart of him.