We were already so far down the rabbit hole. I worried about what that meant. Now I knew how she tasted, the softness of her lips, and the smoothness of her face. I needed to solve her situation to move to the next step with Hazel and not wonder if she only agreed to be with me because of what I did for her.
But how the fuck did I do that?
“Let’s get your documents,” I said, tapping my left pocket and smiling while doing my best to pull further back away from her. The more distance I got, the better.
She closed her eyes and slowly opened them as if it was a prolonged blink, but she didn’t argue. I pulled the box from the bakery into my lap with the laptop bag and slid out of the Escalade, waiting for her to meet me at the front.
Jerome’s building only had a few offices rented out, mainly for family and a few friends, but soon it would be a bustling hub in the small town. It was only ten stories, but it was eight stories more than any other building in Pelican Bay. Even if the top two were a home and office for my cousin.
I held the full glass front door open and let Hazel walk in first. The bank of elevators sat quiet and empty. Jerome and Lily weren’t currently occupying the penthouse.
“What happens next?” Hazel asked as I hit the up button in the first elevator.
A flash of sadness hit me as I thought of the answer to her question. After I broke the encryption on her thumb drive, we’d have access to the documents her boss died getting to her. Once we had that data, her future would be out of my hands.
I had money and clout in certain sectors, but once things hit the federal government, my pull had less effect. I might make demands and offer suggestions, but unless Hazel went along with them, I couldn’t do much.
“Let’s see what’s on the drive,” I said as we stepped into the elevator, but I didn’t rush to hit the button for my floor. “I have contacts with the governor, and we can get the right people involved as soon as we understand who it should be. I’ll make sure that whatever happens, your safety is paramount on everyone’s mind.”
It might take Ridge and me working together. He’d earned a wide reputation for himself the last few years after leaving the military, and he’d have my back. But I was prepared for a fight.
Regardless, I vowed to myself and secretively to Hazel I’d keep her alive, safe, and happy. No matter what happened between us, I’d guarantee her safety.
She pushed the button, and the elevator started with a jerk. The conversation lingered between us. I had so much I wanted to say but no way of knowing how not to scare Hazel. My instinct said to take her back to the safe house and lock her inside for the rest of her life, but we lived in the new millennium, and women weren’t into the cave dweller thing.
It wasn’t logical, but I couldn’t hold it off much longer before I made my feelings known to Hazel. I had to calm my roller coaster of emotions before I said anything and forced her to run screaming.
My two halves were playing a game of Tug of War. Half of me wanted to claim her right then. The other half worried I’d step too far over an imaginary line and lose everything.
The elevator opened, and we stepped out. I pulled the office keys from my pocket and jingled them on my finger as we walked the long, quiet, empty hallway. We were still twenty feet away when my senses tingled. I jerked my head up from watching my feet on the floor to the door of my office.
We didn’t have to get closer to see something was wrong, but I did anyway. “What the fuck?” I said as we both stood in front of my open office door. Someone busted the handle. The wood was splintered from being kicked.
I had one of the largest offices in Jerome’s building. Even if I didn’t plan to be here all the time, I wanted to make sure I had comfort. I had a duty to maintain the reputation Cyrus and I worked so hard to perfect since graduating.
Very little was in the large space, but the robbers had strewn everything across the floor, so the place was an absolute mess. Drawers from my desk, a large wooden piece Jerome helped me pick out, stood almost dismantled in the middle of the room. Someone pulled the drawers out and tipped them over, letting everything fall to the ground. Pieces of paper coated the floor in front of an open window, the wind helping with the redecoration efforts as it blew them around the room.
Hazel bent over and grabbed a few pieces of the disorganized paper. She stared at one side and then flipped it over, staring at the other. “They’re blank.”
“Well, yeah. They’re for show,” I said, stepping on a mess of them and walking to the desk where I set the bakery box. The thoughts of chocolate and something sweet faded from my mind.
“But why are they all blank?” she asked, picking up another piece of paper and examining it before letting it flutter back to the ground. It sounded like she didn’t believe they were blank. That if she kept searching, she’d find one with something on it, but that’s not how I worked.
“Everything is on my computer. You don’t think I’d be dumb enough to leave a paper trail. Do you?” I asked although I suspected that’s exactly what Hazel hinted at.
As if I would have pages and pages of code printed out and filed away in a cabinet somewhere. Even the things I stored on my computer weren’t really on my computer. It was only an access point to a secure web-based safety zone I created years ago. It was like my own Sherlock Holmes mind palace but on the internet.
The best way to access it was from my computer, but if someone got a hold of that, they’d have to break through my security measures to access any files. If they stole it outright, I had other means of accessing the data stashed at various points. I made my living as a hacker against the top systems in the world. I learned how to keep my information hacker-proof early in the game.
It would affront my reputation if someone broke through my precautions.
And why did anyone think I’d be dumb enough to leave my laptop in an office even behind a locked door? No, my baby came with me everywhere. It was always with me or within eyesight. A few days ago, it was the most precious thing I owned, and I guarded it with my life. Now it shared the distinction with someone else I found much more valuable.
Someone I allowed to stand in a compromised building looking at blank pieces of paper. I slipped the laptop bag from my shoulder and handed it to Hazel before directing her out of my office and the short distance down the hallway. Between two different private rooms was a private bathroom. I used another key on my ring and unlocked the door, gently shoving her inside.
It was not only a private bathroom for the people who rented offices at the end of this hallway, but it had no windows and worked as a shelter in time of need. I gave Jerome crap about the last-minute additions he made to the building before allowing it to open to the public, but now I couldn’t wait to call my cousin and thank him for the foresight.
You could never be too safe when living, building, or working in Pelican Bay.