Page 85 of Healing Conviction

“I’m waiting for it to figure out the code. This usually takes a while when I break into BlackStone—” Her phone made a gentle chirp, and the sound of a dead bolt sliding back shortly followed. She looked at Drake expectantly for him to open the door but he was staring at her with an intense, heated look.

“What?”

“You’re sexy when you commit crimes.”

Her lower abdomen clenched, but she snorted and rolled her eyes. “I’ll keep that in mind the next time I want to jump your bones. Now open the door before it locks again.”

He immediately reached for it and pulled. “Does Snake know you have that?”

“No, and if you tattle, I’ll blab about how you’re jealous of him like a big dummy.”

His eyes widened, and he gave her a growl before entering the building. “You win this round, Pix.”

She smirked and did a little curtsy for her own benefit since he’d already turned away from her. As they entered, a far-off rumble made her pause.

“What is it?” His forehead wrinkled.

“I thought I heard a car.”

CHAPTERTHIRTY-FOUR

They waited for a moment, but whatever she’d heard was either too faint or a figment of her imagination. Drake gave her a silent nod before continuing down the hallway. The glowing red from the ‘EXIT’ sign tinted his back, and the dim emergency lighting every few yards illuminated their way.

A loud click behind her sent a shock of panic down her spine, and she reached for Drake, her chest heaving.

“It’s fine, Nora. It was just the door reengaging.”

She glanced up at him with a sheepish smile, and his small, teasing grin made her relax as it lifted in the corner.

“Jumpy little pixie, aren’t you?”

“Har, har, har.” She tilted her head back and forth before sticking her tongue out. “Make fun of the poor girl who keeps getting herself roped into these situations despite never having any formal training. Real manly of you, Malfoy.”

He rolled his eyes at her theatrics and continued down the hallway, past a sign that pointed them in different directions they could possibly go.

“Wait,” she whisper-yelled and tugged on Drake’s shirt. He turned around with a glare, but Nora pointed to the black sign with the white arrow indicating straight ahead. “The executive suites are that way.”

Draco shrugged. “Okay? Good to know we need to go this way to the warehouse.” He tried to turn, but she tugged his shirt again.

“No, wait. What if there are answers there? I have to at least download a computer or two.” His brow furrowed as he looked from her to the hallway with the executive suites, then toward the warehouse and back again. Finally he grimaced and nodded once.

“You have to be quick.”

On the last word, he was already heading down the hallway toward the rooms. Three had placards beside the door indicating the conference room, Chief Operating Officer Stefan Ricker, and Chief Executive Officer Gail Haynesworth.

They searched through the conference room first, finding nothing but a coffee bar and some mints, which Nora looked longingly at, finally getting what Drake had meant about MREs never filling him up all the way.

Next they went into Stefan Ricker’s office. Attempting not to touch anything with her fingertips, she used her shirt hem to help her open every drawer she could see. Drake wordlessly flipped through the pages of files in the cabinet with care, obviously understanding the importance of not leaving fingerprints.

“Make sure to take pictures if anything looks remotely even sorta important.” Nora pressed her knuckle to the power button on the computer before withdrawing her flash drive from her key chain in her bag.

“How’d you know we would need that?”

“I didn’t.” She shrugged. “A good hacker never leaves home without one—”

Two loud notes blared from the speaker bar underneath the monitor as it turned on. She waved her hands like a lunatic and tried to shush the inanimate object, but the moment had already passed.

They stood stock-still, waiting to see if anyone or anything would come investigate the sound. After a few silent breaths, Nora exhaled, and she plugged her thumb drive in before activating the app on her phone she’d created.