I’d slipped in through the back entrance, avoiding the swarm of photographers clustered outside the lobby doors. But even from the lobby, I could hear the shutter clicks.
Jennifer all but jogged toward me as I hit the elevator button. The moment the doors closed around us, she let out a shaky breath.
“Sorry I never called you back yesterday. I’ve been trying to brainstorm—anything—but Jesus…” She clutched a folder to her chest. “I can’t figure out a way to turn this around.”
“I can’t either,” I admitted.
She looked at me, an apology in the line of her mouth. “You’re going to need to give a statement.”
A dull ache pulsed behind my eyes. “I know.”
“I drafted something,” she said quickly, snapping open the folder. “Elion takes no direct responsibility for the breach. We say we’re reviewing it and will follow up once we know more.”
My hands tightened on the leather strap of my purse. “The breach isn’t the problem. It’s the numbers.”
The elevator climbed, its red floor indicators casting reflections across the polished tile. I watched the glow move beneath my feet, wishing it would swallow me whole.
When the doors slid open, David and Kevin were waiting right outside.
“What did the two of you come up with?” Kevin asked hopefully.
“Nothing,” I told him, stepping out. The hallway unfurled long and dim—a purgatory between here and the sanctuary of my office. Locking myself inside was the only answer I’d found. The only thing I could handle.
“Fuck,” David hissed behind me—David, of all people.
We all turned, wide-eyed.
He lifted his hands. “What? Fucked is kind of the theme of the day.”
None of us knew what to do with that level of honesty from him.
For a second, the three of us just… stared.
Dazed.
Confused.
A little unnerved.
Then my phone buzzed in my hand, cutting through the moment.
Damien.
“I have to take this,” I said quickly, moving down the hall before anyone could follow. I shut my office door on the third ring, twisting the lock at the same time I brought the phone to my ear.
“Hey,” I managed, dropping into my chair like the floor had given out beneath me.
“How are you feeling?”
“Like shit,” I admitted. “Everyone here is running around like chickens with their heads cut off.”
A pause.
“Here?”
“At Elion.”
“I thought I told you to stay home today,” he said curtly.
