The hood slipped back.
The guy staring up at him looked young and pale, with genuine panic in his wide brown eyes.There was something familiar about him.His hands came up instinctively, palms open, breath hitching as he tried to draw air.
“I—I wasn’t—” he stammered.
“Kayne, stop,” Chloe said firmly, right behind him.“Don’t hurt him.”
Kayne kept his grip tight but eased the pressure enough to reassess.The man wasn’t fighting.Fear rolled off him in raw, unfiltered waves.
“Who are you?”Kayne asked, voice level and unimpressed.
The guy swallowed hard.“I-I work for Sandy.On the website.”
“His name is Aiden,” Chloe said quickly.“Aiden Kerr.He’s Sandy’s assistant.”
Kayne flicked his gaze to Chloe, then back to the man.“And what are you doing lurking near the locker rooms after hours, Aiden?”
Aiden shook his head too fast.“I wasn’t lurking.I was looking for Ms.Giordano.I’ve never been here before.I don’t know the layout.”
“What is it, Aiden?”Chloe asked.
His shoulders hunched.“Sandy and Evan asked me to bring you these reports from yesterday.She thought it would be better in person instead of email.”
Kayne studied him, noting the way his eyes slid away under scrutiny, how his body folded inward, clearly uncomfortable with attention.Shy, Chloe had said before.Awkward.Someone who wilted under pressure.
Or someone who knew exactly how to look harmless.
Kayne finally released him, though he stayed close, his body angled in a way that left no doubt he could close that distance again in a heartbeat.
“What kind of reports?”Chloe asked gently.
Aiden gestured to the backpack clutched to his chest.“The first one is site analytics.You had a spike in visitors after the, uh, event.Over five hundred thousand new sign-ups.”
Chloe gasped.
“No such thing as bad press,” Anja murmured.
“What else?”Kayne prompted.
Aiden looked decidedly uncomfortable.He dug a paper out of his bag and handed it to Kayne.He opened it, and his blood instantly ran cold.Chloe gasped again.
You won’t see me until it’s too late.
It was the same message left on the note by Chloe’s computer.
“Where did you get this?”Kayne demanded.
Aiden jumped as if poked by a cattle prod, and Kayne realized he’d practically yelled the question.
“I-it was a website comment.”
“Is there any way to trace it?”Anja wanted to know.
“No, and we tried.”Aiden shifted from one foot to the other.“I didn’t mean to scare anyone,” he insisted.“I swear.”
“How did you get in here?”Kayne asked.He hadn’t come through the front door, or Kayne would’ve seen him.
“Over there.”He pointed toward a side door that was propped open carelessly.
