Almost a whole minute passed as I watched him. I literally counted. Shocked at his lack of elaboration—like, no further explanation whatsoever—the awkward silence grew.
Finally, I threw up my hands. “Cade, I didn’t come in here to watch you work.”
“Oh, great. Then you should probably leave.” He cracked his neck to the side and reached for something on his right.
When I saw they were glasses and he slipped them on effortlessly, I couldn’t help but blurt out, “You wear glasses?”
He sighed, closing his eyes for a second before opening them to glare at me. “Izzy, what do you want?”
“You told me to come in here to discuss why you’re changing everything around.” I walked toward his desk in irritation. “You’re never here, but you’re acting like this place doesn’t operate perfectly fine without you.”
“No.” He shook his head, then tapped his temple like I needed to pay attention. “Remember, I said you could come to my office if you wanted to discuss the team further.’'
“I’m not getting into logistics with you. We both know you’re changing everything around when it doesn’t need to be changed.”
“Based on what? Your expertise?”
“Is that a jab at my education?” I think my mouth nearly hit the floor while my blood pressure skyrocketed. This guy had the audacity to go down that road?
“Izzy, I don’t even have the credentials you do. Why you went back to school for a degree in computer analytics is beyond me when you already knew how to hack into government shit in the first place,” he grumbled, rubbing his forehead. “Now, doing your assigned IT troubleshooting job, I’m not so sure about—”
“Are you kidding? I handle my job and other tasks. And I’m good at what I do. Stonewood Enterprises literally threw our team a party because we’re that good.”
“They’re always throwing damn parties. Jett’s been party happy ever since he got married.”
Wow, he had some nerve talking about the guy who owned the company that way. “Look Juda and I have worked in sync—”
“Juda can’t handle the job, and you and I both know it.” Cade cut me off.
“Well, if you believe that you should let me help him so his projects don’t go completely off the rails.”
“Do you do everyone’s job around here, Izzy? Your task list also included a large project from Cassie and—”
“I like to work,” I ground out. “Juda has not once complained about—”
As if on cue, Cade’s AI announced that Juda was calling. Cade didn’t think I was worth passing up his call, obviously, because he said, “I’ll answer.” He waited a moment for a beep and then said, “Juda, I’m still talking with Ms. Hardy.”
Don’t think I didn’t roll my eyes as big as I could before I grumbled, “Now it’sMs. Hardy.”
“Yes, sir, I’m very aware you’re talking things over with Ms. Hardy. I just wanted to make it clear that I’ve got all this handled. Ms. Hardy has done some greatassisting.”
Boy, he must have been sweating in his boots out there, because he damn well knew he’d done none of the work.
“I know. I know. She’s telling me how great you are, Juda, and I’m happy to have you as the team lead.” His tone didn’t make him very believable. “Please remind me what projects Ms. Hardy was assisting you on so I can be sure her workload isn’t too light in IT.”
“Oh.” Juda cleared his throat.
I tapped one stiletto and noted Cade’s eyes were glued to it, like he was absorbing the energy from each tap. He even smiled as Juda tried to brush all my work under the rug.
I didn’t correct him. It wasn’t my job. I really didn’t care if he took credit. I let him finish his ridiculous downplay of my work as I racked my brain for how to navigate this situation. When he mentioned the JUNIPER project, my whole body went rigid.
“She’s done well there. We got that algorithm ironed out very quickly. And the infrastructure we set up for the Chicago PD and the voting system for midterms is ideal for combating their ever-evolving cyber threats.”
“Juda, I’m happy you brought that up,” I said. “I’d love a chance to take that off your plate, if Mr. Armanelli is comfortable with me doing so.”
Cade’s finger now tapped the desk in about the same rhythm as my foot. “Why do you need to take over?” Cade inquired.
“Because I’d like to continue managing those threats. You know my history in undercover work—”