Ash stifled a sigh. It was shockingly easy to fall in love with someone completely unsuitable.
“You fell in love?” Her tone was half curiosity and half actual concern.
He couldn’t believe he’d said that out loud. “Pretend I never said that.”
Was it even love? Or just gratitude?
“Is this the woman trouble they were teasing you about?”
“Yes.” Of course, Portia wouldn’t leave it alone. If anyone had told him that he’d be spilling secrets to Portia Tremaine without being tortured, he’d have laughed his ass off.
Time for a subject change. “Do you want me to focus on the leak or on Leopold’s trail?”
Portia raised a brow, her expression clearly indicating that she knew he was changing the subject. “Both,” she said again.
He shook his head. “I can’t do both. Not with our current setup. Let me have full access to the system.” Full access meant porting in. He’d do just about anything she wanted for the chance to surf the network again. It was so close he could almost taste it.
“I can’t,” she said.
Was that real regret in her voice?
“I don’t trust you,” she continued. “I want to. You’ve given me good information. At least, I think you have. But as soon as I let you off that leash, you could do unimaginable harm to me and this company and I wouldn’t know until it was too late.”
She was right not to trust him, but that didn’t mean her words didn’t hurt.
He wanted to earn her trust. The woman who was using his sister as a hostage. How fucked up was that?
This must be Stockholm syndrome.
“Fine,” he ground out. “I still can’t do it all. What do you want first?”
Since he didn’t bother to hide his annoyance, he expected a reprimand. Instead, she looked at him with pity.
Fuck her. He didn’t need her pity.
“Finish with my father’s assistant. I need to know how much damage he did that we haven’t discovered yet.” She paused, her gaze heavy on him.
He ignored it, focusing instead on the streaks of rain on the window behind her. That was how he felt especially with Taryn mad at him. Gray and washed out.
“Fine,” he said. “I’ll get right on that.”
Chapter36
In the elevator,Ash sagged against the wall after finishing his time up in Portia’s office for the day. His head hurt and he struggled to regain his focus on his next moves. Juggling Hope and Taryn and Portia, as well as all the secrets, was getting overwhelming. He feared the situation would come to a head before Taryn had extricated Hope.
He wanted a nap and a drink.
No. Scratch that.
It wasn’t a drink he wanted, it was Taryn.
But he’d screwed up and that wasn’t an option.
So, he should focus on his future. His and Hope’s. One without Taryn in it.
Fuck, that was depressing as hell.
Ash stepped off the elevator and ran right into Mendez.
