“Aye? How do you know that?”
“I’ve been reading that stack of baby books you ordered.”
I frowned. “You’ve been reading the baby books?”
She nodded, kneeling to wash Millie.
Something like pining wrapped itself around me, holding me frozen.
“Aren’t you going to be late?” Eilidh asked, tickling Millie with a bath toy.
“Right. Right.” I kissed Millie again. “See you both later.”
A directorat Ardnoch Estate also happened to be on the board of an extremely popular British online retailer. They were the target of weekly hacks and the last one managed to get hundreds of thousands of customer details. Thankfully no bank details, but the company was on edge because of the incident. I’d agreed to analyze their current cybersecurity and see how we could tighten it.
It would be a headache on top of looking after Millie right now, but well worth the paycheck.
Walker, Callie’s stepfather, accompanied me to the staff car park after the meeting. “Thanks for setting this up.”
“No problem. You all right?”
Walker Ironside was a man of few words, but he didn’t need them. I could tell by the speculative expression Callie had told him about Millie. Thankfully, I knew Walker kept shit to himself. I didn’t want anyone knowing about Millie until I knew for certain if she was mine. If she was, I’d have to set her up with a doctor and a nanny or daycare. As soon as that happened, the cat would be out of the bag. Ardnoch was too small for people not to find out as soon as I stepped into the village with a baby in tow.
“I will be once I know she’s mine.”
“Aye, I get that.” He nodded. “And I know you’ve got your hands full, so don’t worry about this business with Eilidh. I’vegot someone trying to track who purchased the cameras through the serial numbers.”
Confused, I shook my head. “What are you talking about?”
Walker’s brows drew together. “Eilidh didn’t tell you?”
“Tell me what?”
“Maybe you should ask her.”
Walker was trying to trace someone through camera serial numbers. Realization scored through me and with it, a flash of fury. “Did someone plant a camera on Eilidh?”
He nodded grimly. “Her flat in London. Her landlord called because they were doing an annual check on the smoke alarms. They found cameras in them.”
Fuck. Was she never to get any peace? “Has anyone contacted Eilidh with footage? Have you found any online?”
“Already got someone checking the dark web. Nothing on there. No one has reached out or blackmailed or threatened her.”
“Email me the serial numbers.”
“I can deal with it. You’ve got enough on your plate.”
The thought of someone violating Eilidh’s privacy made me want to punch a fist through my car window. “Send me those serial numbers, Walker. This is Eilidh.”
He clapped me on the back. “I’ll email them over now.”
As I got in the car, instead of driving toward Ardnoch for coffee like I’d planned, I headed home. The thought of some unknown person owning private, intimate footage of Eilidh was more than I could stand. Hadn’t she been through enough? And why hadn’t she told me?
I intended to find out.
Storming into the house, I found Eilidh on the couch watching morning television at a low volume. Millie was in her cot. I glanced in it as I passed, relieved to find her sleeping peacefully.
“What are you doing back?” Eilidh whispered.
