Hacker Exposed (White Hat Security Book 1)

by Linzi Baxter

  “I’m going to tell you a little backstory that needs to stay between us. Sophie already knows. I told her this morning. Now I’m telling you because the Ross family knows.” I found it hard to tell my friends this story. I didn’t want them to know what my father had done. It embarrassed me. “Have you heard of Samuel Highmore?”

  CJ answered. “Yeah. He stole a bunch of money about ten years ago. Now he’s in jail. Why are you bringing him up?”

  “Did you know he had a wife and two kids?”

  “Stop with the questions and tell me why you need me on this job. Which member of the Ross family are we helping?”

  “I am Samuel Highmore’s daughter,” I said in a rush.

  “Um, can you repeat the mash of words you just said really fast? It almost sounded like you said you were Samuel Highmore’s daughter, which would be impossible. The Highmores were rich. I went to school with you and lived with your family for a few years. You were poor like Sophie and me.”

  “We were rich before the Ross family put my dad in jail. The government took all the money away when my father went to prison. I changed our identities.”

  CJ stared at me with a blank look. I wasn’t sure if he was mad or hurt. “CJ, say something. Will you help me? I don’t want to meet with the family alone. The other reason I need help is because of Antonio and Asher Ross. They were my best friends, and I just left them. I found out tonight the family tried to find us. I might run into them working on this project, and I need you as a buffer. Actually, I know I will run into them on this project.”

  “Okay.”

  “Just okay? You find this out, and you don’t say anything else? Are you mad at me for keeping this secret?”

  “I’m not mad. Hurt, yes, but I would do anything for you, so I said okay. What time are we going to go over? I can’t wait to look at Alex all day.”

  I saw red at the mention of Alex. I’m not sure where the feeling came from, and right now wasn’t the time to figure it out unless I wanted my friends’ opinions, and at the moment, I didn’t want that. I wanted my friends to leave so I could take a bath and have a glass of wine.

  “No, you will not be staring at Alex. I want you to work with Asher and Antonio,” I snapped in reply then winced, hoping they didn’t notice.

  “Wait, do you have a thing for Alex? The twins are even better. If one of the twins were gay, I’d be on cloud nine.” Oh, if CJ only knew. Maybe they would hit it off.

  I looked over at Patty, who looked like a deer caught in headlights. “Are you all right with keeping this a secret, Patty? I know you didn’t grow up with us, but I consider you part of my second family and wanted you to know.”

  “I’m just shocked. Do we get to meet any of the family? I would love to meet Aaron.” Now she had a dreamy look on her face.

  “Okay, CJ, we need to be there at nine tomorrow morning.” After discussing the agenda for the next day, I threatened to take away the team’s Christmas bonuses if they didn’t leave my house. Finally, it was time for a bath, a glass of wine, and my battery-operated device.

  Chapter Six

  Alex

  The next morning, I woke up early, and for the first time in years, I was excited to go to work. I also needed a ride. My last driver sucked at getting me to meetings on time. I didn’t tolerate being late. But I should probably consider finding replacements before I fired people.

  Over on the counter, my phone started to ring, and it was just who I needed. “Hey, little bro, the man I was about to call. Can you swing by and pick me up? I have a job I need you to help me with.”

  I could hear Asher chuckle in the background. He knew how rashly I fired people and that I more than likely needed a ride. “How long did this one last before you fired him?”

  I rolled my eyes and hung up. He would be here soon. Knowing Asher, he was already on his way to Ross Enterprises and probably only ten minutes away. I finished getting ready, grabbed a cup of coffee out of my state-of-the-art coffee machine, then headed down to the lobby of my condo building to wait for Asher.

  I owned the building. It was one of the first projects I took on at Ross Enterprises. I bought the rundown apartment building and converted it into expensive condos. I transformed the top two floors of the fifty-story building into a penthouse.

  “Thanks for the ride, Asher,” I said, climbing into his black Range Rover. He didn’t reply, but he held up his middle finger so I would know he heard me. I used the time in the car to figure out how to tell Asher about Bridget and White Hat Security helping us locate the missing money. He would be working with Bridget. I hoped Bridget coming back into our lives would bring my brother out of his shell. He seemed to be making the motions of life but not living to the fullest. He thought I didn’t know his secret, but I knew everything about my siblings.

  The trip to my office flew by. I asked Asher to come up so we could discuss the job I mentioned and so I could tell him about Bridget. The office was buzzing, and everyone was running around, doing their jobs. Nobody seemed to know about the missing money, and I wanted to keep it that way.

  Sarah already had all the new documents laid out on my desk and coffee ready for me. She was going to work out, especially since I had my eye on Bridget. I figured it was time to settle down. If only my little nerd knew what was coming for her.

  “You look like you have something on your mind,” Asher said.

  “I don’t know how to tell you this. I hope you don’t get angry,” I said. Asher raised a brow but didn’t say anything. “I hired Claire’s IT firm to find out how we were compromised and to stop it from happening again.”

  “Sorry, man. You sleep with so many people, I can’t keep up. Why would I care that you hired some chick?” He shrugged.

  “Claire Highmore, your friend growing up. Well, she doesn’t go by Claire anymore. She goes by Bridget.”

  Asher stared at me like I had two heads but didn’t say anything. “I think I fucking heard you wrong, because if my brother had found Claire and didn’t tell me, we would have a huge fucking issue.” He looked like he was about to kill me. I believed Asher had a hiding spot to dispose of dead bodies. I wanted to sleep with Bridget, so I tried not to get killed.

  “Dude, settle down. I didn’t find her. Dad did. I didn’t know until last night when he introduced her. Dad said she could help me with my current problem. Take your issues up with Dad, but please don’t kill him. Mom would be upset.” I tried adding the joke to lighten the mood. “You need to get your temper under control. Bridget is going to be here in a few, and you need to act friendly. Put that ‘poor me’ shit away and get your friend back. We need to gain her trust so she doesn’t run again. Also, you and Antonio need to be at Sunday dinner this week. Dad is making her bring Greta and Cass. Those are the names Katherine and Elizabeth go by now.”

  Through the intercom, Sarah said, “Mr. Ross, there is a Bridget and CJ here to see you.”

  “Please let them in.”

  She looked stunning in her black dress. It fit her curves perfectly and made her breasts look so luscious. I needed to get my mind in the game before I embarrassed myself. The man walking behind her put his hand on her lower back, and I wanted to kill him. I wondered if Asher would show me the hiding spot for the dead bodies.

  “Asher?” Her voice was so shaky, it sounded as though she were about to cry.

  Asher walked up and engulfed her in a hug. It looked like my little brother was getting a little wet-eyed too. I hadn’t seen him express emotions in years. I felt confident Bridget was what Ash needed to help him figure out his life.

  “I missed you, shorty,” Asher whispered in Bridget’s ear.

  “I missed you too, Ash,” Bridget said while holding Asher around the waist.

  The tall Thor look-alike behind her cleared his throat. “Well, I love a reunion, but can we get to work? I want to go hack some criminal’s computer and hand the info to the feds. Then we can pull up the camera feed, watch them get arrested, and post it online.
”

  I could see Bridget start to chuckle and realized the guy was trying to lighten the mood for his boss. Now, that was a good employee. I wondered if I could steal him, though I wasn’t sure I liked that he wanted to hack people’s computers. I noticed the way he looked at Asher and realized I wouldn’t have to kill him for touching Bridget. She was mine, though she didn’t know it yet.

  To her employee, Bridget replied, “I said no more hacking and posting to YouTube.”

  I had assumed the guy was joking. If this was a real thing, I wondered if I could find the channel.

  “Damn, boss. You take the fun out of a job,” he said with a smirk. He seemed to like working for Bridget.

  “CJ, this is my friend Asher Ross, and that is Alex Ross. I want you to work with Asher to do in-depth checks on all the employees. You know the drill—hack and don’t be found.”

  Asher replied, sounding annoyed, “What do you mean he is working with me? My security firm can pull all the employees’ backgrounds. I have contacts who can pull extra background information if needed.”

  CJ and Bridget looked at each other and laughed. “Asher, we are going to hack their checking accounts, home computers, phones, and any programs they use,” Bridget said. “We also have the technology to hide those hacks so no one will know what happened.”

  “Come on, Asher. Why don’t you show me this ex-military-staffed office of yours. If you’re nice and buy me lunch, I won’t hack your company,” CJ said with all seriousness, and the two started walking out.

  Suddenly, Asher turned around. “Are you going to be at Sunday dinner?” he asked Bridget, seeming scared she would disappear again. I would make sure she didn’t, even if I had to put a tracking device on her.

  Bridget nodded. “Yes, I’ll be there.”

  Looking reassured, Asher left with CJ.

  “I see what you did there,” I said accusingly. “Did you do it for Asher, or did you do it to make yourself feel better?” I didn’t want her playing games with my brother’s heart.

  Bridget looked thoughtful. She probably didn’t think I knew about Asher and was trying to figure out what I meant by my question. “What? I need Ash’s help. I don’t know what you are talking about.”

  “Like fuck you don’t. CJ is gay, and you’re trying to set him up with my brother. Did you think I didn’t know?”

  She looked stunned. “He told his family?” she asked in a whisper. “I always pushed him to tell you or at least tell Antonio. I knew you guys would support him no matter what.”

  No matter how I broke this to her, she was going to feel bad for letting my brother’s secret out. At least I was finally able to get some confirmation. Hopefully, he hit it off with CJ. I wasn’t even gay, and I knew that guy was good-looking. He was like Thor in glasses.

  “No, he hasn’t told us,” I said.

  Bridget looked like she was about to pass out. “But… how did you know if he didn’t tell you?”

  I guided her over to the black leather couches that backed up to the floor-to-ceiling windows. My corner office was on the sixtieth floor. The view from the windows overlooked the Atlantic Ocean. While Bridget took a seat on the couch, I went to get her a glass of Scotch to help calm her down.

  “I can’t drink that in the middle of the day,” Bridget said about my choice of drink. I chose to ignore her, put the Scotch in her hand, and told her to drink it.

  “The family figured it out a long time ago. We are waiting for him to tell us.” I told her as I sat next to her on the couch. I pulled her into a hug. God, she feels right. I looked down into those green eyes and started to lean into her. She smelled like fresh spring air, and I leaned in to feel those luscious lips…

  The stupid intercom interrupted the moment. I know I like my new assistant, I thought, but she might need to be fired anyway.

  “Jessica is here to see you,” Sarah said through the speaker. “Do you want me to send her in?”

  No, I don’t want to be interrupted, my dick said, but my mind took over and pulled me away from Bridget. “We will be finishing this later,” I said. I went to my desk before Bridget could reply. Her face looked so cute when she was stunned.

  “Yes, send Jessica in,” I replied with a shrug.

  “Good morning, Mr. Ross.” Jessica seemed to have grown a little more backbone overnight. I wondered if I should give her another test.

  “What have you found?” I snapped. She needed to learn how to deal with me.

  Bridget turned and narrowed her eyes at me. Was she going to stand up for one of my employees? While holding up air quotes and changing her voice, she said, “What Assbucket meant to say is, ‘Good morning. This is Bridget Boggs with White Hat Security. I was wondering if you found any new information that might help us.’”

  It took everything in me not to laugh. She was going to make my life more interesting. Jessica was also trying hard not to laugh. She held herself together pretty well. On the other hand, Bridget flat-out laughed. I would tie her up later and spank her for this turn of events.

  “After further analysis, it seems to be happening in Ms. Hatcher’s division,” Jessica said. “The project is close to being done, so they are handing in the last of the billable hours. That’s where I see the money missing, and it’s looking to be more than a million. Did you know that sixty-four percent of embezzlement is done by women? Seventy-two percent of the time, it’s someone in finance, bookkeeping, or accounting, and the average age of an embezzler is forty-three, according to Equipment World.”

  Jessica continued reciting more statistics until I told her to stop. Scott warned me about her fascination with statistics. I was a little shocked by her information. This was not good news. Losing that much money out of the project could cause the project to fail. Not to mention, Ms. Hatcher was one of my conquests. I hoped she wasn’t doing something to get back at me.

  “That is great news, Jessica,” Bridget said happily. “You rock. We can take it from here. Also, please don’t let anyone know I’m here. We want to keep it under wraps that an outside company is doing an investigation.”

  As Jessica left, I thought, Okay, last time I checked, it was my business and my meeting. “You want to tell me why we didn’t get more details from Jessica before sending her out? Also, where do you get off calling me ‘Assbucket’ in front of my employees?” Bridget might have been cute, but she was starting to annoy me.

  “I call it as I see it,” Bridget said with a smile on her face. “And you were an ass. Jessica did nothing wrong, and you yelled at her. She gave me all the info I needed to get started. I don’t want narrowed-down information. I want to look at the bigger picture. To start with, I will look at all the people that work on that project, including you. Also, what’s up with the statistics lesson?”

  Bridget pulled out her computer and started setting it up on the conference table in my office. She was taking over the place as though she owned it. Every minute I spent with her was making me like her so much more.

  “Do you need me to call IT and get you a username and password?” I asked while picking up the phone.

  “No, I already created one. I can’t believe you use your mom’s name for your password.”

  “How do you know my password?”

  “I sent you a spam email last night. You clicked on it and entered your information. Thanks, by the way. Made my job easy.” She turned and started typing on her computer. I guessed that was my cue to start working.

  Bridget

  “Can you hack my brother’s computer or phone?” Alex swept his hands toward my laptop, like a push of a button made everything happen. “Didn’t CJ say something about hacking computers? Can we do that? I have a few people we could check in on.” So I guessed I could label Alex an unethical hacker.

  It was time to teach Alex a lesson about hacking into people’s things. I pulled up my notes from the research I did last night on Alex. In the notes, I had his iCloud password. Now I could look through the videos and pictur
es on his account. There was a video of him singing in the bathroom while getting ready. Damn, is he hot, but a bad singer.

  “You mean like this video right here?” The shocked expression on his face and the stream of profanity that left his mouth made it seem as though he didn’t like the feed I’d pulled. “You should check the video file on your phone every so often.”

  “You made your point. Now get rid of that and don’t show anyone, or I will talk to CJ about blackmailing you back. Everyone has a price,” Alex said. I knew CJ would never do anything against me, so I chose to ignore Alex and started installing programs and looking for the issues at hand.

  A few hours later, I had a lead on who was behind the hack. I followed the money and caught the sneak who was using other employees’ logins. I needed to get the identity to CJ so he could look into the guy more. We also needed to pull the video feed that corresponded with the login to verify what I thought was happening. Then we would have concrete evidence against the individual.

  “Hey, Bridget. Are you ready to leave and grab a bite to eat? We can pick up where we left off tomorrow.” Alex’s voice knocked me out of my computer-induced trance. I looked up and noticed it was already seven o’clock.

  “Wow, time flies when you get into the thick of things. I can’t go to dinner tonight. I need to go see my mom.” I also needed to get an update to CJ so he could pull the information together.

  “I could take you to see your mom, and then we could get a late bite to eat,” Alex said.

  I wasn’t sure how my family would take seeing him. “We can have dinner tomorrow after work. I need to explain to Mom and Cass that our identities have been discovered. It will be easier without you there. How about we meet back here tomorrow morning?”

  Alex joined me on the elevator ride down. I texted CJ. Can you look into the CFO? His logins don’t look right.

  Did you get laid? CJ texted back.

  No, I found some strange emails and logging on Mr. Davis’s computer. It looks like the initial compromise was on his login. Can you pull the video feed along with the logins and see if they match?