Page 33 of Secret Revenge

“You forgot your purse?” Travis frowned and stepped forward.

“Well, I have some friends here,” I started. “I brought them some lunch just before I left for the day, and I forgot my purse… somewhere… here…” I made a show of looking around the floor and glanced at the screen.Files copied successfully.

Michael’s cursor was moving fast to close tabs on the screen as he retraced his steps out of the system. I resisted the urge to shout for joy, maintaining my shaky composure.

“Oh, there it is!” I said, bending down to pick up the purse. In one motion, I unplugged the drive and thrust it into my purse.

I stood up and waved the purse triumphantly at Travis. His eyes narrowed and his forehead wrinkled. I could tell he was having a hard time buying whatever I was selling.

“Do you always work so late?” I asked as I walked past Travis, trying and failing to sound natural.

“Not so late,” he replied, following me. “Sometimes.” His voice sounded reserved.

“Goodnight,” I said as we reached the door, and walked slowly to the elevator. I absolutely couldn’t look like I was fleeing the scene of a crime.

He stood in front of the server room, watching me go.

16

TRAVIS

Ifrowned as I watched Emily head towards the elevator, following closely behind her. There was a sinking feeling in my gut that I struggled not to think about, but it was all that I could do.

How did she get into the server room?

She shouldn’t have been able to do that without help, and there weren’t any IT staff on duty at this hour. I’d have to ask the night security staff if one of them let her in and tell them not to do that again.

The server room was the beating heart of Ross Industries. It contained all of our information. Information that could be used to predict our moves, short our stocks, or steal the tech we were developing. IT staff only earned access after working for the company for years, and we drilled them rigorously on security protocols. Emily’s access as one of the reporters allowed IT staff to show her the server room and some of its files under close supervision.

Now here she was after hours, alone, and somehow in the most secure part of our building.

Then again, I was here too. I had decided to stay behind and do some research on a company before I chose to invest in them as was my intention.

I had been going through their numbers and the rise and fall of the market when I had seen movement from the security camera. I had given it only a cursory glance since I was expecting security guards to patrol the halls at these hours, but I was shocked to see Emily instead.

I’d thought she was heading to the commons cafeteria, but she walked past there, not even looking in that direction. My brows raised in surprise when she headed towards the server room.

Is this part of that journalistic integrity she was telling me about? Trying to get access to places we don’t want to show her?I wanted to believe that. But it could so easily be something much, much worse. A person could make billions if they paid a reporter to steal our data and use it against us…

It had not escaped my attention that Emily had been making close friends with the people who worked in the server room. I had even been jealous when I saw how hard one of the employees made her laugh.

I hoped she really had just left her purse behind and gotten a friendly guard to open the door. But deep down, I didn’t want to ask. A guard should have stayed with her, monitoring her while she was in there and I had an awful feeling I’d learn that she had let herself in somehow, which would mean she’d somehow circumvented our most advanced security system.

I jerked myself out of my thoughts. Ishouldcheck with the guards. I should lecture them about server room security. But Emily was here, and it was late, and I really didn’t want to think about what it might mean if I found out none of the guards had helped her.

“It’s late,” I proposed as we walked through the marble lobby. “Why don’t I give you a ride back home?”

She stiffened. I prepared myself for her rejection since we both knew what happened the last time I had given her a ride.

“Fine. That would save me some time.” Her cool response surprised me.

I grinned as she walked past me, heading to the elevator. I called my driver to have the car ready to go.

“I’m glad you were able to find what you were looking for,” I said as we got into the car.

I glanced at the purse dangling from her shoulder, praying that really had been all she found.

“Yeah, me too. Nothing like getting home and realizing you don’t have your ID.”