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Sara tugs her hand away. “It’s too late for that.”
Bursting with curiosity, I step in front of Sara. “What’s going on? I heard Jenna quit, but it feels like there’s more to the story.”
Sara looks aside, chewing on the inside of her cheek.
“Sara, I can tell that you want to say something. Just let it out.”
She scowls down at Jenna. “I don’t know how much Cullen’s told you, so I can’t go into details. Basically, a foreign tech company stole our source code and tried to sueusfor theft. At first, we assumed they reverse-engineered the code from the competition.”
“The competition that was bait to find my brother?” I clarify.
“Yeah.” Sara huffs out a breath. “But something didn’t sit right with me. It didn’t make sense that the tiny preview from the competition would be enough for another company to build thesamemainframe, line by line. So I did some digging and realized our code was plagiarized right around the time Jenna joined our team.”
The dots connect in my head before she even finishes her statement.
I gasp. “Jenna was working for the evil company that stole from you?”
“Where am I?” Jenna groans, holding her stomach.
“You’re in front of Cullen Tech.” Sara looks at her with pure disdain. “If you’re good enough to walk on your own, then get up. You’ve bothered Nardi enough for today.”
Jenna staggers forward, but I grab her arm before she can walk away. Fury burns through my veins. “Why?” Her head swings over to me and I bark at her, “Why did you do it? Cullen’s sacrificing hislifefor the PLP. What did he ever do to deserve your betrayal?”
Tears fill Jenna’s eyes and her nostrils flare. “I’m sorry.” She trembles. “I needed the money. It was the only way to help my mom. And Ronan is so brilliant. I was sure he wouldn’t be down for long.” Tears roll down her cheeks. “I didn’t know he was dying. I didn’t think I was trading someone else’s life for my mother’s.” She hangs her head, sobbing hard. “I can’t live with myself for what I did..”
Sara scoffs. “You’ll have to find a way to live with yourself. Live with that guilt forever. That’s the least you can do.”
“Why did Cullen keep this under wraps?” I ask Sara. “This has to be illegal. She stole Cullen Tech’s property. She should be in prison.”
“I agree, but Cullen didn’t want to prosecute. Not when he heard about her mom.” She gives me a pointed look. “He’s changed a lot since he met you, Nardi. But in this case, I wish he hadn’t changedthatmuch.”
A retching sound drags our attention back to Jenna. She’s bent over the walkway, emptying the contents of her stomach.
Staring at her, I can’t help but feel a wave of admiration for Cullen. To have his life’s work stolen only to turn around and offer grace to the perpetrator says a whole lot about the man that he is.
And, in that moment, I feel a sense of pride that Ronan Cullen is the man I fell in love with.
I retrieve my shopping bags and head upstairs. The moment I step inside, I feel someone glaring daggers into me.
It’s mom.
“You storm out last night, no call, no update. I have no idea if you’re dead or alive. And you come back twenty-four hours later with shopping bags? Do you think I can be bribed?”
I offer the bags to her. “They’re a peace offering. I didn’t come home to fight.”
My mother puts the bags on the couch, not even sparing them a second glance. “Have you finally come to your senses?”
“I came to pack my bags. I need some essentials if I’m moving in with Cullen.”
Mom’s eyes widen. “Are you really going to do this, Nardi?”
“Yes, mom.” I walk over to the kitchen to wash my hands.
Mom’s footsteps chase me down. “We discussed this last night. The closer you stick with that man, the more it’ll damage you later.” She glances around and then hisses as if revealing a big secret. “He’s going to die. He’schoosingto die.”
Wearily, I remind her, “You won’t be around forever either, mom. Eventually, you’ll have to return to Belize and Josiah and I won’t see you anymore. Does that mean I shouldn’t spend time with you before you go?”
“That is notnearlythe same thing and you know it.”