The guys exchange glances, and then Oliver reluctantly releases Hendricks, who doesn’t waste a second. He scrambles to his feet, casts a wary look around, and without another word,hurries out of my apartment, the door slamming shut behind him with a bang that makes me flinch.
Misha takes a quick walk around the space, searching my bedroom and en suite. “Seems like whoever was here is gone.”
Somebody was in my apartment.
The realization sends a chill running down my spine.
“Come on, we need to get you to the hospital,” Grey insists, his hand on my elbow.
“No, I don’t need to go,” I murmur, but then a cold realization washes over me. “Wait,” I gasp, stumbling toward my coffee table.
My laptop. They took my laptop.
I frantically search, my heart racing. “It’s gone.”
“What’s gone?” Oliver asks, concern etching his features as he comes to stand beside me, reaching out to hold my upper arm.
“They stole my laptop. All my work…” Suddenly, another horrifying thought hits me. “Oh God.”
Panic rises in my chest as I grab my tablet from the couch, fingers shaking as I try to access Jamie.
Nothing.
I open the folders in my cloud with my backups, but they’re all gone too.
I lost not only my project but theirs.
“Everything’s gone,” I choke out. “Jamie’s gone too.” I have to bite my cheek not to cry. “I’m so sorry. I can’t even?—”
“He’s not gone,” Grey cuts in, looking up from where he’s replanting a fallen fern. “I told you. You can’t just get him out of your system. There’s too much security involved. If they tried to extract him, he would have uploaded a backup into my cloud and uninstalled himself. Same if they took your laptop with the hardware. Jamie isn’t gone. He probably just pushed the self-destruct button because of the threat.”
I breathe a sigh of relief, but the knot in my stomach remains.
My work is still gone.
Grey stands and brushes his hands off his sweatpants. I notice that Misha is in workout attire too.
Where were they?
Grey steps closer, tilting my chin up with his thumb. His piercing gaze searches my face, concern etched in the lines around his eyes. “What is it? Are you hurting that bad? We should get you to the hospital.”
“No… it’s not that,” I murmur, averting my eyes. The weight of my loss presses down on me, making it hard to breathe.
“What is it then?” he presses.
The reality is sinking in like a stone in my stomach. My AR, my work, everything I’ve poured my heart and soul into… gone. Vanished into the ether as if it never existed.
What are they going to do with it?
Did they just want to have it for themselves?
Misha moves closer, his hand warm and comforting on my shoulder. “What is it, Bug?”
They’re all around me now, touching me, trying to comfort me. Their presence is both reassuring and suffocating.
How can I explain?
It’s not just data or code. It’s a piece of me, my dreams.
