3
FIONA
“That won’t happen again,”Kade said grimly. “We won’t let it.”
A thread of hope curled in my gut. “You believe me?”
“I sure as hell do.” He nodded toward Ronan. “You already know Ronan does. Even if I had any doubts, the fact that you came into work today would cinch it. What kind of person would show up to the office the day after stealing a priceless Monet?”
I turned to Zeke. He’d always been the one who was more suspicious and cynical of people’s motives. “What about you?”
His lips quirked. “I disagree with Kade on that last point. A great thief would go about their routine as normal regardless of what they’d been up to. What better way to look innocent than to act as though nothing had happened?”
Angry heat simmered inside me and I narrowed my eyes at him. “But—”
“You didn’t let me finish.” He smirked. Damn, I wantedto wipe that annoying expression off his face. “I don’t think you are a thief. I was just pointing out what the police’s perspective might be. Your being here today is a good bluff. That said, you obviously didn’t do it, and we can’t afford to lose the boss’s right-hand woman, so I guess we’ll just have to prove your innocence.”
“W-what?” I couldn’t believe my ears. Surely Zeke, the most frustrating man I’d ever had the displeasure of working with, hadn’t just suggested coming to my rescue.
“He’s right.” Ronan sighed and ran a hand over his tidy hair. “The best way to beat this is to be proactive. We need to either prove you can’t have done it by locking down your alibi, or find who actually stole the Monet.”
I blinked at them in shock, momentarily speechless. “You’d do that for me?”
“Of course we would,” Kade said gruffly.
“But it shouldn’t be your problem. It’s not fair of me to expect you to help me clean up my own mess. Especially since you were already generous enough to give me this job despite my history.” Ronan had taken a chance on me when no one in my old circles would. I didn’t want to repay him by making his life more difficult.
Ronan stacked his hands one on top of the other on the table. “You’re family to us, and we take care of our own. We’re helping you.”
My lower lip wobbled. My throat constricted and I blinked rapidly to stop the tears that were welling in my eyes from spilling over. “Thank you.”
“Great. That’s decided.” Zeke clasped his hands together. “Moving on. It seems to me that considering the nature of the crime, our best bet is to look for electronic evidence. I’ll take the lead.”
My stomach fluttered.Zekewould be the one trying to clear my name? I didn’t know how to feel about that. On onehand, he was excellent at what he did, but on the other, he never seemed to take anything seriously. Did I really want to rely on him for something so important?
“You’ll make this your top priority?” Ronan asked.
“Sure. It’ll be like an electronic game of Clue. The guys will love it.”
The fluttering turned into nausea.
“Can’t you take something seriously for once?” I snapped. “This is my life.”
Zeke’s crooked smile didn’t waver. “I take it very seriously, Fifi, and my team will too. They work harder when we make it fun or give them something to compete over. Trust me.”
My stomach sank. That was the whole problem. Ididn’ttrust him.
I had no particular reason not to. I knew his reputation as being the best in his field, and we had a long list of satisfied clients because of him. But I had a difficult time seeing him as an expert cyber specialist rather than as the devil-may-care flirt he’d become whenever we were in the same room. Beyond that, the truth was, I didn’t really trust anyone. After all, I’d trusted Bergen, and look where that had gotten me.
“Surely we don’t need youandyour team working on it,” I said, my thoughts again returning to the huge mountain of crap I’d dumped at my boss’s feet. “I don’t want to cause any issues with meeting deadlines for other projects. I could just work closely with one of your people.”
Zeke’s grin widened. “Nice try, sweetheart, but you’re not getting out of working with me. You’re a V.I.P. That means you get the white glove service.”
Despite my reservations, I warmed at the thought that Zeke considered me important. It had never occurred to methat he might see me as more than a challenge to his lady-killer reputation.
I turned to Ronan. “Is that a good idea? I’d hate to be responsible for problems with paying clients.”
I couldn’t afford to pay for their time. I knew the rates these guys charged out at and they weren’t even in my ballpark. The only reason I could afford Ariadne as my attorney was because I’d known her since school and she gave me a heavy discount.
