I grimaced, swallowing more ice cream. “Sorry?”
She sighed and put down her spoon. Resting her chin on her hand, she studied me. “I’m aware what an ass my father was today, Reid. I can’t apologize enough for him.”
I didn’t deny her statement. “It’s not your place to apologize.”
“Hardly a fun weekend for you, though. I wanted it to be great.”
I finished the ice cream, wiped my hands, then threaded our fingers together. “It is. We’re together. We had an awesome evening with your friends, and tomorrow, I’ll try really hard to get your dad to approve of me.”
She looked wistful. “He’s gotten worse. He’s so grumpy. And you kept your cool and never rose to the bait.”
Remembering Richard’s words earlier, I decided to give her dad the benefit of the doubt. “He wants what is best for you, BB. I’m not what he had in mind. Give it a little time.”
“That’s very generous of you since he rode your ass all day.”
“And he might tomorrow. But we’ll get through it, and we have a couple of days to have some fun.”
“Why are you being so nice about this?”
“Because I love you.”
Our eyes locked across the table. Her gaze lowered to my mouth and her tongue peeked out, running over her bottom lip. “Reid?”
“Yeah, BB?”
“I want to go and have some fun right now.”
I stood. “Let’s go.”
* * *
Gerald wasn’t happy to see me return the next day. Becca had the whole day planned with things she wanted the three of us to do. He wasn’t enthused about any of them. I took Richard’s advice and kept trying to engage with him. I asked him about Becca as a child. Commented on various pictures he had around the room. Asked to see more of them. I even inquired about his career as a police officer. Anything to make him talk. After lunch, he announced he needed to rest for a while, and I was grateful when he shut his eyes, feigning sleep. I was so exhausted, I needed a nap myself—only I wouldn’t be faking. He made being nice damn hard work.
Becca’s phone rang, and she looked at the screen. “Oh, it’s Maddox.”
She answered and spoke quietly. Her face paled, and she asked him to repeat himself. She looked at me, panic written on her face as she listened. “I don’t understand, but I’ll check into it right away,” she said. “I don’t know what to say, except I’m sorry. I’ll get it cleared up and bring you the money next week.”
Money?
She hung up and looked at me, confused. “Maddox says my rent check bounced. He thought it was strange and wanted me to know.”
“What?”
Becca tapped on her phone screen, her face even whiter when she looked up. “Reid, my bank account balance shows I’m overdrawn, and my credit card is maxed out! Oh my God, what’s going on?”
I dug into my knapsack, and pulled out my laptop. I had her sign in to her banking site, and she scanned her accounts.
“It’s all gone,” she whispered. “All my bills that I pay at mid-month automatically—they’re all being rejected. My checking account is overdrawn, my savings are gone, and my credit card is to the limit.”
I held out her phone. “Call them now.”
* * *
Two hours later, Becca hung up from yet another call. “They’ve put a freeze on everything. They say it will take time, but I should get most of the charges reversed.”
“What about your money?” her father asked.
She shrugged. “Someone withdrew it all. Somehow, they got a hold of my information and made a duplicate debit card. They got it to override the daily limit and drained everything.” Her watery eyes widened. “Last night—that’s why my debit card didn’t work.”
“Yeah. Someone was stealing your money.” I cursed under my breath.
Gerald sniffed. “Sound familiar, Reid?”
I ignored his comment. I knew he was trying to get a rise out of me, and that didn’t matter to me right now.
“Okay, Becca. What else did they say?”
She shrugged. “That they’re working on it and will be in touch. All my cards have been canceled, and new ones will be issued.”
I shook my head. “They can be doing more.”
Becca frowned. “He mentioned I should check and make sure my other online profiles hadn’t been touched or hacked.”
“Okay, I can do that.”
Gerald spoke up. “I called a friend in the fraud department. They’re going to check into that for me.”
Becca sighed. “Thanks, Dad.”
“I can do it faster,” I insisted.
“Illegally, you mean?” he asked, his tone smug.
“Faster,” I retorted.
Becca glanced at me, uncomfortable. “Why don’t we see what they come up with and go from there?”
“Because they could be using your information to procure other credit cards and racking up debt in your name. If they got your banking information, they got everything they need, Becca.”
“They’ll get on it right away. I’m sure they’ll call soon, Rebecca,” her father insisted.
I shook my head. “We’re not talking about some kid who took your card. This can happen in an instant with the technology they have access to. Let me do this, Becca.”
She hesitated.
Gerald spoke. “Why don’t we let the proper channels handle it? I’m sure Reid here is overreacting.” He paused. “Maybe he is looking for any excuse to get back to his old habits.” He cocked his head. “Maybe somehow he caused this mess.”
Becca pushed away from the table, her hands clenched tightly in fists. “Dad, stop it! Reid had nothing to do with this. He’s trying to help, which is more than you’re doing with your not-so-subtle digs at his character. Leave it alone!”
He laughed, the sound forced. “Oh, I’m only teasing, Rebecca. Reid can handle it, can’t you, boy?”
I swallowed my reply.
“It’s not funny,” she insisted.
“No, it’s not, Rebecca.” Her father sighed. “Let’s leave it to the law-abiding professionals to handle it. Someone will call me soon.”
Becca sat down, not meeting my eyes.
“Okay.”
* * *
An hour later, my patience had reached its limit. There was very little I could do trapped inside her father’s place. He didn’t own a computer, and the internet was shitty. The link I had was slow and dropped constantly. I had a hot spot from my phone, but I needed a strong connection and some major machinery. Becca had fallen silent, constantly worrying her lip and wringing her hands, then glancing at her phone, only to remember she had turned it off.
The phone rang, and her father listened for several minutes, speaking in a low tone I couldn’t hear. He hung up and smiled at Becca.
“They’re going to get to the bottom of it, honey.”
She sagged in relief.
“First thing after the weekend, they’ll be looking into it and doing the right thing. In the meantime, I can give you some cash to tide you over.” He glanced my way, distaste on his face. “Do I need to call the hotel and pay the bill?”
“I am paying for the hotel bill, and I don’t require your help.” I stood, grabbed my laptop, and shoved it into my bag.
“Where are you going?”
“Monday is too late, Becca. I need to work on this now.”
I ignored her father’s scoff.
“I need to stop them in their tracks before they destroy your name and credit rating.”
“How?” she asked.
Gerald spoke up. “Doing what he does best, I imagine. Breaking the law.” He met my gaze, his eyes calculating and frosty. “What excuse will you use then, Reid? You did it in the name of love?”
I was done, fed up to the teeth with his holier-than-thou attitude and his snide remarks. I didn’t care about his opinion—or Becca’s anger over my decision.
“I’m doing it because, whether or not you beli
eve it, I know how to fix it. How to handle it so your daughter isn’t stressed and upset. So her privacy and information aren’t out there being compromised.”
“With your shortcuts, no doubt. Circumventing the law.”
“With all due respect, sir, fuck you. You can sit there and judge me, but I’m not going to stand around and wait for people to do ‘the right thing.’ Not when I can make it happen faster and stop it now.”
He snorted, his eyebrows lifting at my words. “Typical. Taking the easy way out. Bending the rules.”
I shrugged. I was done with his attitude and rudeness. “You’re entitled to your opinion.”
I slung my knapsack over my shoulder and headed for the door, flinging it open. Becca followed, reaching for my arm.
“Reid, please.”
I turned, looking down into her pain-filled eyes.
“Don’t—” she pleaded, her lip quivering.
I shook my head. “Don’t ask me to stay, Becca. I can fix this. And regardless of what your father thinks, what I’m going to do isn’t illegal. It’s making things right.”
Her eyes filled with tears that ran down her cheeks. “I-I don’t—”
“Hey,” I whispered, cupping her face. “Hush. I’m not angry at you.”
Her hands gripped my wrists, her body trembling. “I have to choose now. This is making me choose.”
I glanced behind her at her father. He was watching us closely, a self-righteous look on his face, knowing he had won. I refused to give him the satisfaction. I hated him for making her so upset and forcing the issue.
“It’s okay, baby. You don’t have to choose anything.”
Her brow furrowed in confusion.
I leaned my forehead to hers. “I never had a family, Becca. No parents to love me. I longed for that my whole life.”
Her voice trembled. “I know.”
“Your dad loves you so much he is willing to risk your anger instead of letting you make a mistake.”
“You’re not a mistake,” she whispered.
I kept talking. “I would never ask you to choose, baby. I love you too much. He’s your father—your family. That’s forever. There is no choice here.”
I pressed a kiss to her head and pulled back.
Her eyes were huge, the tears endless. “Wh-What are you saying?”
“You stay here with your dad. I’m going to go and do what I do, get my stuff, and head home.”
Her fingers grappled, tugging on my sleeve. “No, Reid—I can fix this. It’ll be fine. I’ll talk . . .”
“No.”
She stared up at me, wordless.
“You have tried. We both have. It’s clear nothing we do will change his opinion of me. I love you, Becca. But sometimes, that isn’t enough. Because he will never allow it, and I refuse to be part of the reason for your sadness. I won’t let you be caught in the middle of a feud for your affection.” I kissed her lips softly. “It’ll be okay, baby. You’ll be okay.”
Her mouth opened, but no words came out.
“I’m going to fix your problem. I promise you that. I will make it right for you.”
I backed away and pulled the door shut behind me.
I was lying—to her and myself. One thing I knew for sure: I wouldn’t ever be okay again.
Not without her.
* * *
I had texted Richard as I grabbed a cab, and he arrived at The Gavin Group building a few minutes after I did. When I explained what had happened, he let me into their server room, not hesitating for a moment.
“I won’t do anything that can be traced back to this place. All I need is the power and some machines.”
He waved his hand. “It’s yours.”
“You don’t need to check with Graham?”
“You’re good. We trust you.”
I pulled out my laptop. “Any of your IT people around, by chance?”
“No, do you need something?”
“An extra pair of eyes and hands. And access to your network room, so we can get to work.”
He held up his pass card. “I can do all that.”
“Great.”
* * *
Richard stared at the screen. “Should I understand what you’re doing?”
“No. I’d be surprised if you did.”
“Can you explain it in small words?”
I laughed, my eyes never leaving the screen. “I’ve back-doored into the banking system. It appears the hackers laid a URL to misdirect real users to a phishing site. I found the key logger they placed to get log-in info and passwords from users. They embedded them within an email that was sent as the bank’s newsletter. But they left their coding fingerprints behind, and now I’m finding the people who did this.”
“For what purpose?”
“I’m taking Becca’s money back—and wiping every trace of her from their system. Then I’m going to load a virus into their machines so powerful it will destroy them.”
For the first time, he sounded nervous. “They won’t know?”
“No. My laptop . . .” My voice trailed off, and I cleared my throat. “Let’s just say my laptop is invisible. I’ll be rerouted and thoroughly masked, so even if they try, they won’t be able to figure it out before they explode.”
“Are you sure you can find them?”
I glanced at him. “I already have.”
“Holy shit. Maddox told me you had mad skills. I guess he was right.”
“I don’t use them anymore, but this is an exception.”
“Are you really leaving when you’re done, Reid? Walking away from Becca?”
“What can I do, Richard? Force her to choose between her father and me? I dislike him, but he is her family.”
“She loves you.”
“For how long? She’d hate having to hide the fact that she talks to him or goes to see him. I won’t make her do that.” I snorted. “You can be fucking sure I’m not coming back.” I sighed and passed a weary hand over my face. “Besides, if this backfires, I’ll be back in jail tomorrow.”
“And if it doesn’t?”
“Becca’s credit will be restored, her money back in her account. The people who did this will be helpless. They’ll start again, but they won’t have her information or probably hundreds or thousands of others. I’ve disabled their malware and reinforced the unauthorized access points for the bank. And hopefully, I will have damaged such a huge part of their network, and flooded so many of their machines, it will take them long enough to rebuild their protocols that the police will be on them first.”
“Are you going to help with that?”
“If you ever stop talking and let me do what I need to do.”
He stood. “Okay. I’m going to call Katy and tell her not to wait up for me.” He stopped at the door. “Reid.”
Pausing my frantic typing, I looked at him.
“You won’t go to jail. I won’t allow it, nor will the BAM boys. Somehow, if this goes bad, you have people on your side this time. You hear me?”
I met his intense gaze.
“You’re risking your own career and life to protect someone I consider my family. I won’t forget that.”
I nodded and looked back to the screen. He left, pulling the door shut behind him.
Becca was his family, but she was my world.
Even if I wasn’t part of hers anymore.
* * *
I rubbed my tired, aching eyes. I glanced at my phone to check the time. It was almost four in the morning. I scanned all the files one last time and saved them to an encrypted drive. I had done it. I even had a physical address and had already called in an anonymous tip to the police. I had sent Richard out to buy me a cellphone I used for that purpose and then disabled. My tracks were covered. I had managed to look around their setup, and it was scary. Scary how badly structured it was. I was in, invisible and undetected—searching fast. Downloading evidence. Reversing what they had done, with Becca being my number one priority. Then I planted my
seeds and got the fuck out of there.
By now, their system was in shambles, computers frying. Hard drives wiped, and hopefully, police showing up at the door of the well-to-do home they were running their operation from, escorting them out in handcuffs.
The way I was certain Becca’s father hoped I would be later today.
I removed all traces of me from The Gavin Group’s system, making a mental note to tell Richard they needed to up their security and put some more firewalls in place.
I shoved my laptop into my knapsack and trudged down the hall. Richard was asleep at his desk. He had disappeared for a while, returning to hand me coffee and a sandwich and asking if I needed help. When I said no, he had left again, allowing me to work in peace.
I knocked on the doorframe and walked in, slinging my knapsack onto the other chair, before sitting down and scrubbing my face.
Richard stretched, rotating his neck to relieve his stiff muscles. “Is it done?”
“Yep. Becca’s money is back in her account. The same goes for several dozen other people. The rest will have to be handled—” I held up my fingers in quotation marks “—the right way.”
He chuckled. “Gerald has been an ass.”
I looked past him to the dark sky outside his window. “I’m not arguing.”
I risked a glance at him. “Did you, by chance, check on Becca?”
“I did. She went to see Katy and is currently asleep.”
“Okay.” I blew out a painful breath. Despite what happened, part of me had hoped she would show up here, knowing this was where I would come to work. But she was with her friend, and that was probably for the best. I could go back to the hotel, grab a few hours’ sleep, and be at the airport to wait on a standby seat before midmorning.
“What happens now?”
I held up the USB drive. “I’ll copy this and send it to the bank president and the police. It will give them everything they need to put these people in jail, and perhaps the information to help get more people their money back.”
“You shut them down?”
Vested Interest Box Set Books 4-7 Page 21
