“Good.”Kayne stepped back enough to let him breathe.“Then do it somewhere not behind locked doors.Now go back to Stu, tell him you couldn’t find the mop heads, and let’s both pretend you were never here.”
Joel hesitated, then nodded stiffly.“Fine.”
He walked off faster than a man who had nothing to hide.He didn’t look back.Another mark against him.
Kayne waited until Joel turned the corner, then he entered the door Joel had been so desperate to access and scanned the interior.The room contained shelves of routers, cable spools, access-point backups, and two network hubs he’d personally checked yesterday.It was where the new security system would be housed.The heart of the place.Nothing was visibly disturbed, but something in the air felt off, as if the room knew it had almost been violated.
He shut the door, relocked it, and pulled out his phone.
We’ve got a problem, Chloe.I’ll explain when I see you.Stay where you are.
He slipped the phone back into his pocket and headed toward her office, already planning what he’d do if his gut proved right.
Joel Erickson might’ve claimed he went looking for mop heads.Kayne’s gut told him he’d been looking for something else entirely.
And that something had to do with Chloe.
#
Chloe should’ve knownsomething was off the moment Danica breezed into her office carrying a venti caramel whatever with the smug confidence of a woman who believes calories don’t apply to her if she holds her drink at a flattering angle.
“Hello, sister dearest,” Danica sang, kicking the door shut with a heel sharp enough to puncture drywall.“I brought caffeine for your overworked little soul.”
“I didn’t ask for one.”
“I know, but you always look so tired,” Danica clucked as she set the drink down and gave Chloe a pitying once-over.“You’re stressed and puffy.”She tsked and pursed her lips.“I’m sure Kayne has noticed, but he’s too much of a gentleman to say anything.”
Chloe bit back a comment that would’ve absolutely started World War III.“Thanks,” she said instead, because adulthood was about compromise and deep breaths.
Danica flopped onto the visitor chair, blonde hair swinging like a shampoo commercial.“Anyway, guess who saw somethingsoweird earlier?”
Here we go.“This better not be about the new manager again.”
“Nooo.”Danica waved that off.“This was actually concerning.Like stalker-concerning.”
Chloe’s heart hiccupped, a sharp, ugly skip she couldn’t smooth over.“I’m sorry, what?”
Danica leaned in, delighted at the attention.“I went by your apartment to borrow your blender yesterday, and I happened to glance across the street.Someone was watching your building.”
All the air left Chloe’s lungs.Just gone as if a trapdoor had opened beneath her stomach.
Danica shrugged delicately.“A guy, I think.Just standing there, staring at your windows.Totally creepy.”She sipped her drink nonchalantly.“I meant to mention it to you yesterday, but I forgot because Leo sent me that emergency ‘stop charging things to his account’ text.”Danica rolled her eyes and sipped her drink again, smearing gloss on the lid.“Besides, I didn’t want you to overreact.You get so dramatic about safety stuff.”She laughed lightly.“I figured it was, like, a homeless person looking for ...whatever homeless people look for.A warm grate?I don’t know.”
Chloe’s skin crawled with a cold, prickling wave that didn’t fade.Every instinct she had screamed at once.“Danica, someone broke into my apartment yesterday.”
Her eyes widened.“They did?”
The office door swung open without warning.
Kayne stepped inside, his shoulders broad, mouth firmed, and expression carved in stone.The air pressure in the room seemed to recalibrate around him.“Start from the top,” he said.
Danica blinked at him, then immediately crossed her legs and adjusted her posture in a way that made Chloe want to throw her computer at her sister.She repeated the story to Kayne, adding just enough flourish to make herself sound helpful instead of negligent.
“Why didn’t you say somethin’?”Kayne’s voice dropped to a soft Cajun growl that could’ve cut steel.
Danica’s smile faltered.“Um.Well.It wasn’t, like, a big deal.”
“It’s a big deal now,” he said.“Describe him.”
