Page 154 of Pandora's Pleasure

I stepped lightly into the room.

Phoebe glanced up at me and gave a nod to indicate she was ready. Then she continued massaging Galante’s right arm, looking as nervous as I felt.

The scent of sandalwood hung heavy in the air. I’d be triggered by that smell for the rest of my life. It was a fear-inducing scent that would always remind me of the scariest moment of my entire existence.

My hands were trembling so bad I was scared I’d drop the iPad on the hardwood floor. Phoebe seemed too terrified to make eye contact with me again. If this went wrong, she’d be destroyed by him.

Kneeling at the center point of the massage table, I lifted the iPad and waited for Phoebe to bring Galante’s right arm toward it. She adjusted his wrist so it didn’t come in contact with the iPad. Then swept his wrist left.

He raised his head. “Is that a draft?”

The hair on my forearms prickled.

“I don’t feel anything.” Phoebe’s eyes were wide with fear.

Gently, she swept his wrist across the panel again. “I’ll check in a second, sir.”

The iPad’s screen remained dark.

Shit.

“Again,” I mouthed to Phoebe.

She shifted her attention to his hand, massaging his fingers. “You’ve got a lot of tension here, sir,” she said. “Let’s work it out.”

He let out a sigh of frustration. “Yeah, well, if only people did their goddamned jobs.”

“I know how that feels,” she said, cringing at her ridiculous retort.

Again, I raised the iPad and Phoebe slid his wrist across the panel. The screen flashed on.

We were in…

Both of us stared at the blue colored screen as though still not expecting this to work. I had a minute, maybe, to search for the link to the BODI. I slid my finger across the glass, blood surging in my ears as I scoured the device for what we needed: the link to a file that was evading us.

There it was.

With another sweep of his wrist across the base of the iPad, the file opened. We had access to the BODI.

Clutching the iPad, I tiptoed toward the door.

Leaving Phoebe inside the room alone with that man felt wrong. But we were so close now to pulling this off. If we were lucky, this would be the last time she would ever have to be in that room with him.

Heading back toward his office, I tried not to pass out from sheer terror.

Breathing normally again back inside Galante’s private office, I returned to my secret hideout beneath his desk. Hands trembling, I checked the battery life and then cracked open the BODI.

Names. Hundreds of them. Incidents attached to each one. A collection of scandals…of lives hanging in the balance waiting to be destroyed.

Then I saw it—Phoebe’s profile.

As promised, I wiped out everything that Galante had on her.

I had fifteen minutes left to get out of here…

Mouth dry, heart racing, I opened up Google and logged into my personal drive, tapping in my code to access the cloud.

I checked the transfer time…sixteen minutes.