Only a minute passes before Gabe finally turns back to me. “First, the tabloids are printing stories about us. Then we find bugs in my goddamn pub. Now this?”
“I’m sorry to have to bring this to you.” I echo his concern, especially considering I don’t think he is the target but rather a pawn to trap the senator. “But again, I think we need to not let our emotions get carried away. This isn’t personal. The blackmailer wants to destroy the senator and he’s using you and Hadley to do it.”
Gabe glowers. “The tabloids are printing our personal information, so please tell me how this isn’t personal.”
“Of course it seems like things are stacked against you, and I’m still unsure how the tabloids and the threat against Hadley are all linked together, but I’m telling you they are. That much I don’t doubt.” I simply can’t believe the tabloids would go to these extremes just to dig up stuff on our personal lives. Yes, me and my friends hold positions of power in San Francisco, but still…it’s odd we’re making headlines. This all has to be connected to the senator somehow, and I simply needed to find that link to make sense out of all this. “The magazine would never have the financial resources to bug your pub with the devices they used. Nor would they have the money to hire a private investigator to follow Hadley to know she even attended Afterglow.”
Gabe’s eyes widen. “Do you think she’s still being followed?”
“I haven’t seen anyone tailing her, so no, but I’m not necessarily writing that off either.” And if I caught anyone following her, they would quickly regret that decision. Because, logical or not, when it comes to Hadley the only eyes I want on her are mine.
“So, basically, we still have nothing?” Gabe says, obviously frustrated. “We have no idea who bugged my pub. We have a blackmailer who has been in my club. And somehow this might involve all of us or it might not—at this point we only know we are all pawns in someone’s corrupt game. Have I got that right?”
He’s not wrong. Not on a single point. “Well,” I say, trying to put a positive spin on our current situation, “we’ll soon have the name of the hacker and that’s a place to start. We haven’t hit a dead end.” At least, not yet anyway.
“And you believe the hacker is a member of Afterglow?”
“That I’m not sure of. He’s either part of this or has been hired. Regardless, he will know something and he’s the guy I need to talk to.”
Gabe nods in agreement.
I consider my next steps before I add, “But first, we need to see if anyone else has received one of those invitations or if Hadley was the only one. Then we can go from there.” I push away from the door. “Is that doable for you?”
“Of course,” Gabe says, then he pauses, obviously choosing his words carefully. “What do you know about this guy so far? If you show me the video, I might recognize him.”
I shake my head. No one else will see that goddamn video. “The men were wearing full masks. One had a half-moon scar on his hand, but that’s all I saw in the video that would identify them.”
“Weight? Height?”
“Both over six feet, athletic frames.”
Gabe sighs and approaches me. “Anything else that could help me?”
“Anyone involved in something like this will likely have a criminal record.” Christ, even Alex had one before the government squashed it to enlist her help on an investigation. “If you get me names, I have no doubt someone will stand out.” Or Alex would learn enough about them to make them stand out.
“While that might be true,” Gabe says, stopping next to me, “I should tell you, and this is probably the last thing you want to hear, but I don’t think knowing the names is going to get you anywhere.”
“What makes you say that?”
Gabe cocks his head, his voice goes soft. “Because Hadley is known to gravitate to the shady type at the club and I imagine all of them will have criminal records.”
Why Hadley puts herself in that position is still beyond me. She has feelings for me. She wants me. So what in the hell is she doing with men that are the scum of society?
It doesn’t add up, and I decide right then and there it’s about time she tells me why.
“Yes, they might very well have criminal records,” I agree, keeping my thoughts on point for now. “But that’s why I have a hacker of my own. She’ll weed these guys out.”
Gabe offers his hand, and as I shake it, he says, “I’ll get you those names.”
Chapter 6
Hadley
Later that Saturday night, I enter my condo and before I can even get my shoes off, the door clicks shut behind me and Ryder’s harsh voice cuts across me. “Please explain to me what drove you to sleep with two strangers in a hotel room when there was no one there to ensure your safety?”
I’m so shocked by what Ryder’s just blurted out that I twist my ankle kicking off my heels, before I recover. When I turn back to him, I find him scowling at me. “There’s nothing to really explain.”
Legs spread wide, arms crossed over his thick chest, he demands, “Answer the question.”