“I’ll make breakfast.” I don’t touch her, and she isn’t aware that I wanted to. I move back to the other side of the counter and find two frying pans. I put strips of bacon in one, turn on the gas, and find a bowl to scramble some eggs in.
When she looks up with a sniff and wipes her face, I pause.
“So, long story short,” she says with a woebegone smile, “I got fired because of a security video at work. I walked in on someone, uh, having sex. I didn’t report it as I should have, and the hotel’s systems got hacked a few days later. Now the hackers are using the footage to extort the celebrity who was caught on video.”
I hitch my eyebrows. “What? A celebrity?”
“Yep. And now the hackers have figured out whoIam and are using me to blackmail the hotel.”
“Son of a bitch.”
Evan comes down the stairs. The worry on his face is real, but he schools his expression before he comes to stand next to his sister. “What are the hackers asking for? Do you know?”
“A million dollars.”
My jaw drops.Jesus Christ. They’re not messing around.
“And they’ve contacted you?” Evan asks.
“I don’t know. I don’t have the guts to check my phone.”
“Where is it?” Evan asks.
“On the floor in my room.”
Evan walks away, shaking his head. Lexi sits frozen in her seat, hands clenched. I wish she didn’t feel like she needed to save face in front of me.
Evan is back in seconds and holds out her phone to her. “Unlock it.”
She does and hands it back to him. “I don’t want to look.”
“I’ll do it.” Evan perches on the barstool next to her, and we all seem to hold a communal breath. “Email. Nothing. Messenger, nothing. WhatsApp’s all good too. Instagram—” He breaks off, glances at Lexi who is staring at her mug as if it were a portal to another world and she couldn’t figure out how it works, then shoots me a glance with a cocked brow, then says, “Nothing in Insta either.” He carries on, going through other social media apps. “There’s nothing dodgy here.” Evan pulls her in for a side hug. “So far so good.”
“Okay.” Her voice is small as Evan lets her go. “What do I do now? I have no clue what to do.”
“Shut down all your profiles,” I tell her. “Make it impossible for someone to reach you. This is the hotel’s problem, and they have the resources and know-how to deal with this.”
She looks up at me. “Okay. Can you do that, Ev?”
“Consider it done.”
Heavy silence hangs over the table as Evan deals with the IT, and I deal with the eggs, my mind racing. “I’ll give my dad a callabout the lawyer. Someone at his firm would be able to help with this.”
“Will you?” Lexi’s sea-blue eyes flood with tears, ready to overflow.
The hope in her voice stills my heart. Here’s something I can do to take those tears away. “Sure, no problem.” I flip open the pastry box and eye the six croissants. “Bacon and egg croissant, anybody?”
Evan looks up. “Yeah, sure.”
Lexi shakes her head. “I can’t eat.”
“But you should, if only one bite.” The distress in her eyes, the strain in her posture is contagious. My shoulders are as tense as a rod.
“Thanks for the offer to call your dad,” Evan says as he puts her phone down. “Do you still think my idea is so ludicrous, Lexi?”
She meets his gaze and something passes between them—a memory of what it’s like when your world spins out of control. I wasn’t there when that shit went down, but by the look in Evan’s eyes, he would stop the world from spinning now with his bare hands, if he could. “Have you told Tristan about the job?” he asks.
“No,” Lexi says, a flash of fire in her eyes. “And it isn’t ludicrous anymore, only crazy. And perfect. Dammit. It’s so crazy perfect.” She looks up at me and shakes her head. “And no, I haven’t told Tristan anything. If you hadn’t noticed, I’m kind of dealing with a shitfest right now.”
