Page 49 of The Honeymoon Hack

“Where are you, Bug?” I muttered as I typed a message in the Mnemis app, where whoever was monitoring their security could read it:Shift’s done. Want to eat now?

A minute passed. Then two.

No response.

Where was she? Ronnie and I had stayed in the server room an extra half hour to finish an inspection, so perhaps she’d already gone back to our room. But why wasn’t she answering my texts? I’d sent her a few since she declined dinner, and she hadn’t responded to a single one. She’d answered that one, so she had her phone.

What if she simply needed space, and I was being clingy?

But what if something had gone wrong?

You’re overreacting.

If she’d been caught, security would have come for me by now. Wouldn’t they?

She’s probably having a shower. That makes sense.

“Will!” Claire entered the cafeteria area, heading straight for me. “Everything okay? You look worried.”

I consciously relaxed my jaw, so I didn’t look so stressed. “I’m looking for my wife. Have you—” I caught myself. If Brie was somewhere she shouldn’t be, I couldn’t risk drawing Claire’s attention to her absence.

“Trouble in newlywed paradise?” Claire’s smile seemed friendly enough, but something about the way she asked felt off, as though she were testing my reaction.

“Nothing like that.” I cracked my juice bottle open. “We’d planned on meeting for dinner.”

“I’ve been meaning to ask you about this morning.” She fell into step beside me as I walked out of Davy’s, toward the central core of The Grotto. “You mentioned working in a molecular lab? At Dalhousie University?”

My shoulders tensed before I could stop them. This morning, her questions had sounded like normal curiosity. Now, with her walking alongside me despite my clear signals I was busy, it felt different. Pointed. Like she was circling back to something I hadn’t given her enough information about the first time.

“Nothing exciting,” I said, taking a sip of my juice. “I was there for a semester during my engineering program to design custom equipment and help maintain their computer systems. Fairly standard tech support.”

“What kind of research were they doing?”

The question came too quickly and was far too specific. Most people would have moved on by now, but she was drilling deeper.

“Something with tissue responses to topical agents, I think?” I shrugged, trying to project the disinterest of someone who’d simply done a job without caring much about the details. “I understood the equipment requirements better than the actual science. Built what they needed, made sure their computers didn’t crash.”

“Ever work with any dangerous materials?” She asked it with a smile, still keeping pace with me as we neared the exit from The Grotto.

“Me? No. I was just the tech guy.” My phone buzzed, and I nearly sagged with relief. Brie’s text:In our room. Long day.

Thank god.

“Sorry, my wife’s looking for me,” I said, stopping in the open doorway leading to the residential area. “I should go.”

“I did some lab support myself before Mnemis. The protocols were fascinating. All those safety measures.”

What was she doing? I’d given her a clear out, but she kept pushing.

“It was just one semester. Barely remember most of it.” I took a half-step back and put up my hand, clearly ending the conversation. “Thanks for the chat, though.”

“See you tomorrow. Oh, and Will?”

I paused. Why did I pause? “Yeah?”

“If you ever want to talk more about your engineering experience, I’d be genuinely interested.” Her smile was pleasant, completely at odds with the insistent questioning. “We’re always looking for ways to improve our systems here.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”