She sensed when he walked to the back of the restaurant.
Ireland looked up to see him enter his office, and her shoulders drooped, eyes burning. “Dammit.”
She’d told him she didn’t want to talk about last night. That she was only here to work on the software. But deep down, she wanted him to hold her. To tell her everything would be okay. Pretty much exactly what he hadn’t done last night or tonight. Over the phone, he’d seemed more concerned about the software issues than their relationship.
Not again. She was important too, and she wouldn’t take this shit from another guy.
She’d thought Bran was different, but right now, he was like every other man she’d ever dated—self-centered. He’d thought only of himself last night. And today, he’d called to check in, but he was obviously more distracted by the restaurants.
If that was the way he wanted it, fine. She’d fix his damn program and move on. She had to.
Ireland squeezed her eyes shut to push back annoying tears trying to work their way out, and pulled up the code. Right away she noticed lines that looked different than what she’d written. She searched for the backup she’d saved just in case, and couldn’t find it. It wasn’t where she put it, and when she searched the cloud service Club Tahoe used, it wasn’t there either.
Good thing she’d backed it up on an additional cloud service with hard-core security.
Ireland pulled up the alternate backup and compared it with the current program. Sure enough, the two didn’t match. Someone had switched out the program she’d written.
And the reasons why someone would do such a thing were stacking up. None of them good.
Ireland stood and walked to Bran’s office. The door was open and he was leaning back in his chair, eyes closed, the strong edges of his jaw drawing her attention to pillowy lips. Her stupid heart fluttered.
Why couldn’t her heart be smart for once?
When something important happened, Bran hadn’t put her first. Twice. As if last night weren’t enough. He was supposed to be her boyfriend. Instead, he’d shut her out. Ireland didn’t want that kind of relationship with anyone, especially not Bran, the man she wanted to share everything with.
He must have sensed her, because he opened his eyes and looked over.
“Has anyone had access to the program?” she asked. “To the actual code?”
He shook his head slowly, as though considering. “No. Just you and the new Tech Banquet employee they sent in.”
Ireland had the evidence she needed that the original had been modified. But now she had to figure out why. She turned and headed back to the computer.
“Wait,” Bran said, and stood. “What’s going on?”
She kept walking. “Someone switched out the program with a different one.”
“Who would do that?”
She stopped and spun around. “You think I had something to do with it?” Okay, that had been a tad touchy. She was tired and sad, and as confused as anyone about what was happening.
His face held genuine shock. “No. Absolutely not.”
Ireland sat and pulled up a screen on the laptop. “Then let me do my job and see if I can find out who did.”
“Ireland.”
Ireland dragged her gaze from the screen to the face she loved even when she didn’t want to. It was too painful to look at a man she believed in who didn’t believe in her. “Yes?”
“Thank you.” He was sincere, but all Ireland could think about was how much she’d lost today.
Chapter 29
Ireland searched the server for a digital thumbprint of who might have switched out the online ordering program. But whoever it was had covered their tracks. She found nothing. Except the most obvious link to the culprit.
The code had been modified from her original program to take the money on a path through Europe, just like the original program James designed. Ireland was certain that if she checked the accounting, she’d find money skimmed off the top.
It was past one in the morning and Ireland was exhausted. She walked to Bran’s office and found him asleep at his desk. She touched his shoulder and shook lightly, dropping her hand back at her side.
