by Nelson, Cara
She sniffed and a fraction of her anger dropped away. “You could have told me first.”
“I would’ve. That was my plan, but Roger pushed, and called in Frank and suddenly if everything didn’t go straight to the top we were all going to fry. And then I wouldn’t be able to help you.”
Cautious now, she sniffed. Her place now smelled like garlic and ginger. “So?”
“So I plan to stay on this to clear your name. For that, Peter has to trust me.”
She licked her bottom lip. “You know, this morning I’d have scoffed at anyone who suggested that you might be trying to sabotage my career.”
“I know—not funny now.”
She let out a breath. “I want to trust you—I really do.” She slumped into a chair. “I don’t want to believe you would betray me. But couldn’t you have delayed, come up with some excuse?”
“I might have been able to buy you one maybe two hours. But what would that get you? As I said, my juniors knew about it. If they’d gone up to him and had gone around me, I’d have lost credibility. I couldn’t risk that, not if I wanted to stay on top of this thing.”
She swallowed and nodded. “I guess.”
Straightening, he put his hands on his hips. “Look, those emails—no one could ignore them. Trust me, Victoria, if there was anything different that I could have done, I would have done it.”
“I guess it isn’t your fault—I know you didn’t create those emails. But I’m just so…so…”
“Upset?”
“How about murderously angry, hurt, and I want to get back at whoever did this!”
“It’s okay. We are going to get to the bottom of this mystery and uncover the real culprit.”
Fresh tears sprang to her eyes. How could she have doubted him? Had she become so focused on work only that she had forgotten what friendship was? Or was she lashing out because she’d gotten the shock of her life today? She cleared her throat. “How are we going to uncover this plot?”
Trent nodded. A smile lifted the corner of his mouth. “We? I am going to dig into this lie. No one gets into my system without leaving some footmarks. Someone not only stole the information, but he or she set you up as the scapegoat. I might have forgiven the first crime, but not the second. That’s just not done.”
She hugged herself. “And what am I supposed to do now?” Misery twisted sharp inside her. “I feel so alone, Trent.”
He walked over and hugged her. Warm, strong arms wrapped around her and she clung to him. He pressed her tight against his chest. “You’ll never be alone. Don’t ever think that. I am there for you, always.”
She rested her head on his shoulders. He smelled like garlic and ginger, too, and her stomach grumbled. “I’m sorry that I said such awful things to you.”
He laughed and pulled back. “It’s okay. I’ve had worse from you.”
“From me?” Lifting her head, she smiled. An old memory flashed. “Second year of college—I ran behind you with a baseball bat in my hand, trying to land one on you.”
“The baseball incident—what else.”
“You deserved that one. Who told you to put a cockroach in my bed?”
“Hey! I was trying to toughen you up. Who, I ask you, is scared of a cockroach?”
She pushed away from him. “You did it to win a bet!”
He dipped his head, but glanced up at her, a small smile playing in his eyes and around the corners of his lips. “Oh yeah! I forgot that part.”
As she stared into his eyes, a feeling of desire rippled through her, warm and inviting. She stood and went over to the food. She was just hungry. And tired. And…and how could she feel that way about Trent? He’d felt safe when he’d held her—warm and strong. That was all. A safe harbor. She wasn’t his time and he wasn’t hers.
She dug out one of the take-out cartons from the bag. “Let’s eat.”
He started to head into the kitchen to get plates, but she told him they’d just use chopsticks and the boxes. He’d brought beer with him and they opened two. It was always comfortable with Trent, but tonight something different seemed to be happening. She could sense a chemistry sparking between them. Was her mind playing tricks on her? And was it mutual? She tried to watch him, but Trent just seemed like good old Trent, making jokes, trying to get her to laugh and lighten up.
After they’d pulled out all the food, Victoria sipped her beer. “Did Peter say anything to people in the office? You know—after the ax fell.”
She winced. She’d tried to make it sound casual, but she’d voice choked on the words.
Trent avoided her stare.
“Oh, who am I trying to fool. He told everyone, didn’t he? People must be whispering now, meeting up in bars to talk about what led me to this. They’ll all think I did it for money.”
Trent put his hand on hers. “Don’t torture yourself like this.”
Victoria stabbed a shrimp with her chopsticks. “For the first time in my life, I don’t have any purpose. In fact, I am clueless regarding my next move. To hell with the five year plan! Look where it’s led me. I should have followed your example. At least I’d have enjoyed my life so far.”
“Don’t sell yourself short.” He gripped her hand tighter. Her fingers seemed so small to her, engulfed in his. “You’re an amazing, capable person. It’s not your fault someone deliberately framed you. But we are going to nail that bastard and when I am done…” He let the words trail off and let go of her hand. “We should eat.”
Victoria sighed. She almost wanted to grab for his hand again, to have that warmth and certainty back. She picked up her shrimp and ate it. She might as well have been eating the box. “How the hell are we going to get to the bottom of this mystery? Someone screwed me over, but I have to give that person credit for doing it so beautifully. Do you think it was always the plan?”
“What do you mean?”
“This doesn’t seem like a spur of the moment thing. Was the plan always to make me look like the criminal? Maybe it’s someone I trusted. Someone in my department who has access to my computer when I am out.”
“When I dig deeper into the system, my bet is that I’ll find more emails that originated from your account. That’s our trail. That’s how we start looking for them.”
Victoria sighed. All this seemed far too vague. She didn’t know computers like Trent did, and she didn’t have his confidence. In her state of mind, she couldn’t formulate a cohesive thought. She felt battered right now and beaten and she wasn’t sure if she had the energy to fight this uphill battle.
Chapter Four
Trent watched Victoria pick at her food. Victoria, the uptight, go-by-the-books girl had landed in a shit load of trouble and he’d put her there. He was lucky that she’d let him off the hook so easily for his part in this disaster. She had a soft heart. If the situation had been reversed, if she’d gotten him labeled a criminal, he didn’t think forgiveness would have been top of his list of things to do. But she’d listened and given him the chance to make this right. And he would.
He’d turned her life on its head, and now he wondered if he should have waited a couple of hours before giving those emails to Peter. At least he could have bought enough time to break the news to her, to let her brace herself. But that was the past—they needed to look ahead. And he didn’t like how pale and quiet she was.
Straightening in his chair, he announced, “I have a plan.”
She glanced at him, her baby blues dull and red rimmed. It was so unlike Victoria to be this subdued. Her hair stuck out in messy wisps, and she’d barely eaten anything. He hated to see her like this. Where was the girl who could put him in his place with a look? Where was the girl who sizzled his insides with one word? As far as he could remember, Trent had seen her as the strong one—the smart one, the amazing girl who could keep up with anyone. She’d challenged him in school at everything—chess club, math exams, sports even. If he went out for basketball, she became captain of the girl’s team. If he won a scie
nce award, she had to go win two scholarships. He’d flirted with a crush on her, but he was sure she didn’t take him seriously. And he really wasn’t her type. She always went for the thick as board he-men with bulging muscles. Where the hell was his mind wandering? He’d kept something up his sleeve, and this time he was going to focus on it. Victoria’s career was on the line and she couldn’t afford for him to get distracted. She mattered the most. And he wasn’t going to let her down.
Pushing the rice around in the box, she asked, “What’s the plan?”
“I’m going to go through the system with a fine comb tomorrow and check all log times to see every time your computer accessed the company’s network.”
“What’s so important about the time?”
“We’ll be able to rule out normal working hours—those were probably you logging into the system. What we’re going to look for is a pattern of late hours use. Someone got it through your account—and that got into data you don’t have clearance to open. I’ve got to believe whoever did this had to have spent time to find the right files—that means I can look for really long access times. If I can compare all this to the times you remember working, it might show some discrepancies. And that’s the start of a trail.”
“But that won’t give us a name or an identity.”
Trent cleared his throat. “I don’t know how to say this other than to say it, but someone may have used your laptop either at work or at home.”
She pulled a face and put down her chopsticks. “I don’t leave my laptop unattended. And it’s always password protected.”
Trent ran a hand over the edge of the table. He reached for a moo shu pancake. “I know—I know. You don’t want to feel you did anything. But we have to start with the easy. Our network would have flagged a hacker.”
She let out a breath. “Peter said I was either the thief—or just about as good as for leaving my system laying around.”
“Well that just shows how dumb he is. Anyone with a computer is a target. Hell, anyone with a cell phone is a target these days. I could get into Peter’s phone and his laptop without much effort.”
“You’re an IT genius.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Compliments? That’s not what I expected.”
“Oh, please.” She made a face at him. “You know you’re good at this computer crap. Only another person who is as familiar with our system…” She paused. Her mouth gaped open and her eyes narrowed.
He could see the germ of an idea taking shape in her head. “What are you thinking?”
Victoria shook her head. “What if it is someone from the IT department is behind this? Think about it. Your people are good enough.”
“Problem with that is I screen every one of them, and I monitor their work. Besides, that was the first thing I thought of, too, so I’ve already pulled all their logs. They’re all in the clear.”
“Great.” She pushed her chair away from the table. “So you think it’s someone from my department or someone I trust?”
”"I think this is the first time I’ve seen you not devour every shrimp on the table.”
“Just answer me.”
He shrugged. “Why not? It’s not you—it’s not my staff. That leaves the rest of the company, people you know, and anyone who might have accessed your computer at a coffee shop.”
Victoria blinked. “People can do that? I thought we had secure logins?”
Trent shook his head. “Every system has its flaws. But once we know a time, we can start to narrow the suspects. Late night indicates either someone really close to you—”
“What—like someone sleeping here? With me?”
“Or someone from the company who knew you wouldn’t be logging in. If we get hits in the afternoons, it could be someone who just saw you at a coffee shop and hacked your laptop.”
She shook her head. “The chance that someone used my own laptop to leak information is well…outrageous.”
“Trust me.” Reaching over, he touched the back of her hand with one finger. “If I can find a trail, I can follow it back to the culprit.”
He liked the feel of her skin—soft and warm. He kept stroking the back of her hand. She didn’t pull away. For a second, he wanted to do more—to hold her hand in his, to move his chair closer, to lean over and put his arm around her. He looked into her eyes and got lost in the blue depths—he thought he saw a question in her eyes, a plea for something. He wasn’t sure. She looked away and he pulled his hand back.
Standing, she started closing up the take-out boxes and putting them in the fridge. He watched her. Even in sweats, she had a sweet figure—curved in all the right spots. He shook his head. Not the time to be thinking like that.
When she came back to the table, he asked, “Any chance someone got hold of your laptop without your permission?”
Victoria picked up the grease-stained paper bag. She folded flat and smoothed a hand over it. At last she looked up. “It could be Sue.”
He knew it hurt to point a finger at her friend, but they couldn’t rule out anyone until they were a hundred percent sure. “I’ve seen her in your office while you’re off delivering papers and files. It’s a good start. Who else?”
“Well, potentially, it could be Bob. Most of the time, I bring my laptop home and it’s left open a lot on weekends. He was here…” She glanced at him out of the corner of her eyes. “I am sure he had plenty of time over the months we dated to figure out my login.”
“And he could have continued to access the system.” Trent had never liked the guy. “It should be easy enough to eliminate him. If he accessed the system in the last three months, it couldn’t have been through your laptop…unless…” He glanced at her. “Did you guys get back together during?”
“No!” She shook her head and tucked her fingertips under her arms. “Bob and me? That’s so not happening.”
Trent sucked in a deep breath of air. A weight lifted off his heart. Why did he feel relief at the knowledge that she wasn’t seeing her ex anymore? He was probably just glad to see the last of good old Bob—the guy had seemed like a first-class jerk. “Who else?”
Heading over to the sink, Victoria washed her hands. She grabbed a paper towel and turned to face him. Her blue eyes sparkled, but she swallowed and said, “It could be my sister, Jillian. She’s stayed over here a number of times when she and Gordon were having problems. I hate to mix her in—”
“But she totally needed money?” He knew Victoria’s sister all too well. Two years younger than Victoria, Jillian had always been the trouble-maker in the Ashwood family. She’d often indulged in border-line unethical activities to earn fast cash. A veteran of drug rehab now, Jillian was pulling herself out of the cesspool, but he knew it couldn’t be easy for her. And Jillian had always liked the easy path. “I am sorry.”
“There is no pleasant way to doubt the people you care about.”
“That’s what I liked about you—you always dive straight to the heart of the matter without getting lost in emotional crap. Don’t worry. You won’t need to confront Jillian. There are ways to handle this matter without letting her know we’re investigating her.”
“Why are you doing this? I mean, why are you trying to help me?”
Trent pulled out his phone. He opened a notepad app and typed in ideas as they occurred to him. “I’m going to need you to write up everything you’ve done over the past couple of weeks. When you’ve come into the office, when you went to lunch—everything.”
“If I remember it.”
He glanced at her. “Oh, come on. The girl who used to ace every spelling bee because she had a mental photo of the word in her head? You remember.”
She came over and stood next to his chair. “Why are you helping me?”
Trent shoved the phone in his pocket and stood. “It’s what best friends do.”
“Am I that?”
“Geeze, look at the time—I should go.”
“Don’t change the subject.”
&nb
sp; He faced her and spread his hands wide. “What do you want me to tell you? Yeah, you’re my friend. Or that I hate how you’re up to your ears in a mess? That you’re too good to have this shit happen to you—or you’re not the kind of person to commit such a horrendous act?” He let his hands fall, shrugged, and then tucked his fingertips into the back pockets of his jeans. He had no idea what she wanted to hear from him. He could just imagine her reaction if he followed his first impulse and just dragged her into his arms and held her. She’d probably pull the moo shu out of the fridge just to dump it on his head.
But as he gazed into her eyes, the impulse grew stronger. He wanted to offer her more than words. He wanted to hold her and stroke her hair and…and what? Something strange was going on it. He could feel a shift between them. Something hovered in the air and spiked his pulse, and he didn’t know what to do with it.
Victoria wet her lips. He stared at her mouth. She had nice lips—full and pouty without even trying. Lush, he’d call them, and a natural pink color that almost begged for a kiss.
Something important was about to happen. He could feel the snap of energy that crackled in the air like just before a storm. Knowing Victoria for as long as he had, it wasn’t hard to see that she was struggling with her words. That was so unlike her he knew whatever she was about to say would probably put a spin on this whole thing.
Heart pounding, he stepped closer to her. “What is it?”
She shook her head. “Nothing. It’s…just forget about it.”
She started to turn away. He grabbed her arm before she could. “No. I need to know what you were going to say.”
“It was nothing.”
He let go of her. “Tori, we’ve never lied to each other, not seriously. But right now, you’re not telling me something.”
She sucked in a deep breath. “Fine. I’m just going to come right out and say it. It’s probably going to make you walk away, but for once, I’d like to come clean, especially now when you’re going to all these lengths to help me.”
Trent realized the balance of power had shifted somehow. He suddenly felt a little dizzy, like you did when you stepped off a carnival ride. It had always been Victoria who dictated the terms in their friendship, but this incident had made her more vulnerable. He hated to see her so unsure. The Victoria he knew was a kickass kind of girl. He wanted her back. “What the hell are you babbling about?”
