Page 13

Leonard

“ I thought you disappeared with the money,” I say as soon as Roxanne enters my office.

It’s been fifteen days since she signed the contract, and I hoped she would start to work right away, but she just walked out of this room and went MIA.

I stare longer than I should at her long, tanned legs showing off in those cut-off jean shorts, not to mention the white tank top that does nothing to hide her lace bra.

And the sparkly pink sneakers—shoes a twelve-year-old would wear—somehow make her look even cuter. Since when do I find a woman cute ?

“I had to try to hack your system first,” she says, sitting on the chair in front of my desk.

“And did you succeed?” I’m curious.

“No,” she grumbles, and I can’t hide a grin forming on my face.

“I know, it’s perfect!” I beam.

She raises an eyebrow. “You wouldn’t be missing that money if it were perfect, right?”

Fair enough. That’s why she is here, and while I’m happy someone like her didn’t get access from the outside, I know that this complicates everything. At least if she had found a way in, we know there is also a way out. Right now, we’re back at square one.

“I need unrestricted access to all your company networks,” she finally says.

I study her. Does she really think I’m going to give her free rein to stick her nose in my business?

“For starters, I’m giving you partial access to some of my networks; then, if you need more, we can discuss it,” I counter.

She crosses her arms under her breasts, pushing them up and showing a bit more of the swell, begging for my eyes to stray there. It’s a titanic effort not to lower my gaze.

“Do you want me to solve this problem or not? I can’t do my job if you treat me like a kid that can’t touch your computer. I’m a grown-ass adult, and you’re acting like a grumpy old dude who wants to ruin the fun just because you can,” she fights back.

I struggle to hide a smile. She is so riled up her cheeks are turning pink and her brows are knitted in a scowl. With that pink hair, she isn’t even close to being menacing.

“Are you done?”

She says nothing, but at least she doesn’t come back with a remark.

“I can’t give you access to everything for privacy reasons. There are some parts of the network where we keep employee-sensitive data; I’m not giving you access to that.”

“Fair enough. Everything else?”

“Nope. Not the research and development department and some other areas. I don’t trust a hacker with industrial secrets that could destroy my company.”

She scoffs, clearly offended by my insinuations. “So you think I’d steal your secrets and sell them to the highest bidder?”

“I’m not risking twenty years of work because of you.

Do you want my trust? You have to earn it,” I tell her without remorse.

“I know who you are, and I know you’ll go to prison if you even think to peep a word about what you find in here, but I can’t risk my company, not even for Raphael’s little sister-in-law. ”

I stand up and give her a piece of paper with a password and the directories of some of my networks. She is smart enough to figure it out from there.

I walk out of the office without turning around to see her reaction. This is my company; she is a guest. If she needs more, she has to show me why, and she has to be convincing. I still have to figure out which side she’s on.

When I return by noon with a takeout bag, I find her sprawled on the couch, her shoes on the armrest. I should be pissed because that piece of furniture cost more than the check I gave her, but those legs going on for days and the shape of her ass peeking out from the jean shorts is a vision that makes my dick twitch in my pants.

She is sexy as sin, and the image of her naked body sprawled under me on that same couch is so vivid I need to close my eyes to regain my focus.

“If you ruin that couch, you won’t have the money to pay for a new one.” I startle her when I enter the room and close the door behind me.

She studies me, a bit pissed, then she rolls her eyes and stands up. She is a brat .

“Sorry, I didn’t know this was a piece of art. I thought it was something people can actually sit on and enjoy.” Fake sweetness drips from every word.

How I’d like to tame that little brat. Give her something to keep her mouth busy. Jesus, where did that come from? If I don’t get a grip, I’ll do something stupid.

“Exactly. It’s to sit on it, not put your shoes on,” I point out, gesturing for her to sit at my desk.

“Yes, Daddy! ” she teases, and my dick twitches for the second time. She has no idea what that word rolling out of her mouth does to me.

“I brought salad and bread sticks. I didn’t know what you like, so I just played it safe.” I change the subject before my mind goes places I can’t get out of.

“You didn’t have to do that. I can survive on energy drinks and caffeine. But thank you.” She smiles as she digs into her salad.

I study her for a few long moments. I have no idea how she survives without taking care of herself, like having a decent meal and, based on the dark circles under her eyes, a decent night of sleep.

If I imitated her lifestyle, I’d be dead by the end of the week.

This is what a fifteen-year age gap does to a person.

At twenty-five, I could go for three days straight without sleeping or eating if I was focused on a project I really cared about.

“Did you find anything interesting this morning?” I ask when the silence becomes too long and awkward.

She grabs a notepad and puts it in front of me. “I need access to these directories,” she says.

I take a look at the list neatly scribbled on the page. “Pen and paper? You know computers exist, right?” I grin at her.

She raises a challenging eyebrow. “Would you prefer an email so if you get hacked again, it’ll be even easier for them to get around with all the instruction they need?”

Touché. She is probably more paranoid than me, which is a point in her favor. I like how she doesn’t leave anything to chance. She’s usually on the other side of the fence, and she knows the damage an email like that could do in the wrong hands.

“I’ll take a look after lunch and give you what you need.”

“Access to everything?” She widens her eyes.

“I said what you need, not what you want.”

She rolls her eyes while munching on her salad. She savors it like it’s the fanciest plate in the world. I wonder when she last ate a decent meal.

“I understand what you mean when you say the money just disappeared. I couldn’t find anything from the inside,” she says after a while.

“You didn’t believe me?” I playfully challenge her.

“I thought you were just too busy to dig into it. I don’t think there’s anything you can’t find if you set your mind on it.”

I’m surprised. “Is that a compliment?” I smile.

“Just a statement. There’s no doubt your IQ is way above average,” she says so easily I have no doubt she thinks it and I feel somehow empowered by it. I don’t know why. I shouldn’t care about her opinion.

I sigh. “So, nothing, not even a tiny hint?”

She shrugs. “I only worked for a few hours. I didn’t expect to find a solution by the end of the morning.”

I rub a hand over my frustrated face. I somehow hoped she would find something that fast.

“But there is something peculiar. It’s a very specific sum, fifteen different transactions in the span of a year. The numbers are so random that they don’t seem random at all.”

“What do you mean?” I’m curious about her approach.

“When you look at the entirety of the transactions, there’s a pattern, some numbers appearing more than others.

I can’t help but think they’re not purchases—something that was paid for, and the money went out.

You usually see round sums or a ninety-nine-cent decimal place—ninety-five sometimes.

But who prices something at exactly fourteen dollars and seventy-three cents?

” She frowns, like something is bothering her, but she can’t grasp it yet.

She is right. I always looked at the numbers but not at the meaning behind them. A sense of excitement flutters in my stomach. I haven’t felt this hopeful in a long time.

“So you mean they didn’t use it to buy something? It’s not like credit card fraud.” I try to follow her reasoning.

She shakes her head. “I don’t think so. I haven’t dug into the credit cards yet, but I feel confident ruling that out.”

I nod.

“And then there’s the fact that it stopped. There was a regular pattern to how the money was going out, but then it just stopped with a random sum of five dollars and sixty-two cents. Like they had to reach that precise amount. Does the amount mean anything to you—one thousand dollars?” she asks.

She gets it. This is the same direction I was going, like it’s not so random after all.

“It’s the capital we had in the bank account when we founded the company. We started all of this with one thousand, four hundred seventy-six dollars.” I smile, remembering that day.

She thinks about it.

“So, this is personal. It’s not just someone stealing from you. This is someone wanting to send you a message,” she points out.

I didn’t think of it in those terms, but she has a point. The dread sinking in my chest dries my throat and suddenly I’m not hungry anymore.

“Does anyone know about this sum?” She softens her voice, maybe because she senses the sudden change in my mood.

“It’s not public knowledge, but people working in this industry know it. We were quite a legend back in the day because we started literally from scratch and built an empire,” I admit.

She chuckles, and her reaction surprises me.

“What?” I ask.

“Nothing, you talk about ‘back in the day’ like you are an old dude. It’s funny.” She smiles.

I can’t hide a smile tugging at my lips. “Why? Isn’t it true?”

“You know you’re far from it. Don’t fish for compliments. It doesn’t suit your devil-billionaire persona.”

With that, an honest laugh rips from my chest.