“I own a cybersecurity firm.”
I tilted my head.“And what does that entail?”
“I help companies protect their networks from outside attacks,” he answered, cutting into his eggs.“Set up firewalls.Monitor for breaches.Test vulnerabilities.”
“By testing vulnerabilities,” I began slowly, “you mean hacking.”
“That’s one way of testing them.”
I studied him, all chiseled muscles and broad physique.He didn’t look like the stereotypical computer geek.
“I get the feeling you do more than ‘test vulnerabilities.’”
He paused, his knife hovering mid-air.His jaw tightened slightly before he said, “I find holes people don’t know exist and fix them.Or erase them.”His voice dropped lower.“Permanently.”
A shiver traced its way down my spine, and I sensed he wasn’t merely talking about deleting files.
“And yes,” he went on, “I do need to work today.There have been some recent developments I need to look into.”
“Is it about Victor?”I swallowed hard.“Do you know where he is?”
“Not yet.”He lifted his gaze to mine.“But I had a chat with Dr.Schaffer last night.”
“What did he say?”I asked somewhat cautiously.
Henry hesitated.His silence felt deliberate.Measured.Like he was deciding whether I could handle the truth.
“I have a right to know,” I pressed.
“I know you do.”He sighed.“I’m just trying to find a good way of telling you.But I don’t think there is one.”
My stomach knotted.“What is it?”
“Victor called him Sunday night,” Henry said finally.
“And?”
“According to Schaffer, Victor asked him to kill your mother.Make it look like natural causes.”
I sucked in a sharp breath, the sound catching in my throat.
“It looks like Victor’s in panic mode,” Henry went on, calm and clinical, though I could hear the tension underneath the surface.“In my experience, whenever someone’s panicking like this, they don’t last long.It’s only a matter of time before he makes a mistake.And when he does, I’ll be there.”
I stayed silent, my mind spinning.As much as I questioned whether to trust Henry, I couldn’t ignore the truth.If he hadn’t pulled my mother out of that care facility, she may have already been dead.
Or was this all yet another lie to endear me to him?
“Schaffer also told me about his arrangement with Victor,” Henry added.
“To make my mom think she was losing her mind,” I whispered.“More or less.”
“Yes.But that was just one part of it.”
My pulse quickened.“What else did he do to her?”
“Not to her.To other women.Victor paid him to sterilize them.”
I nodded, taking a bite of my biscuit.
