“That’s what I thought,” I said.
“And you can’t log in?”
“No, not even on my website.” I shoved my hands in my pockets when I wanted to curl them into fists and punch something.
“Did you try to reset your password?” Emmett asked.
I shook my head. “I thought I should show you guys first.”
“Good call. Don’t do it yet.”
Emmett stared down at the phone, tapping his fingers on the desk. “We’ve been trying to track them. But this might be a mistake. Harder to trace a social media post—not that we can’t do it—but he logged into your website. That’s an entirely different game. And it’s likely he’s accessed your email.”
“I love it when they make mistakes,” Maddox said, his mouth curving in a scary grin.
I sank into the chair beside Eli, finding myself leaning into him, resting my head on his shoulder for barely a heartbeat before I remembered where we were and jerked upright, scooching to put space between us. At that moment, I wanted nothing more than Eli’s arm around me, the thump of his heart under my ear. I wanted something to make me feel safe because safe seemed very far away.
Nerves skittered up my spine at the idea that whoever had tried to kill me—and had killed Emily Shaw—was in my website, my socials, my email. They’d shut me out from my bank, my credit cards. With every move, I was more isolated, alone, vulnerable. The only thing standing between me and that faceless threat was Eli.
I glanced up to see Maddox and Emmett, the room of professional hackers around them, and thought of Alice at the front desk. Maybe not just Eli, but everyone here worked for Sinclair Security, and I wasn’t a client. They had their own interest in Emily Shaw—an interest that extended to whoever had tried to kill me and was behind all of this. But when their interest was satisfied, they might be done. And where would I be? Still isolated and hung out to dry. Then what was I going to do? I didn’t know.
Eli ran his palm up my spine, his fingers curling around the back of my neck. “Sylvie, we’re going to figure this out.”
I let out a breath, not sure what to say.Promise me you won’t leave me to face this on my own. That was what I wanted to ask, to beg.
I wanted to go back in time, to scroll past the article onEmily Shaw. To find another case and be out there somewhere, driving down the highway in my van, scheming on how to get some witness to talk to me years after a crime.
But then I wouldn’t have met Eli.
I looked up at him. Despite our agreement to keep the change in our relationship a secret, he rubbed the back of my neck, not caring that both Maddox and Emmett—and probably half the room—had noted we’d gotten a little closer than reluctant partners.
“Eli,” I whispered, not even sure what I was trying to say.
He lifted his hand and stroked his thumb across my cheekbone. “We’ll figure it out. I promise.” I heard a muffled snort from Emmett, and Eli muttered, “Fuck off.” I raised an eyebrow in question, and Eli shook his head. “General policy is not to make promises we can’t keep.”
“And you can’t promise you can fix this,” I said. “We don’t even know who?—”
“Oh, we’ll find the fucking who,” Maddox growled. “That I do promise. Fixing it—fixing it’s always more complicated. But we’ll find him.”
“I’m promising anyway,” Eli said. “We’ll find him, and we’ll fix it. You just have to hang in there.”
“Okay.” I sighed and forced myself to sit up.
Alice came down the hall, a cardboard tray in her hand.
“Caffeine has arrived,” she said and sent a kind smile my way. “Don’t worry, Sylvie. The team is on it. Everything’s going to be okay.”
Another snort from Emmett.
“Are you telling me you’re not going to fix this?” Alice asked, a hand on her hip, her sky-blue eyes sparkingwith demand.
Emmett grabbed his green tea and didn’t bother to respond.
Alice tossed her sleek bob and smiled at me again. “They’ll fix it,” she said. “I can’t wait forever for the next season ofEvidence & Echoes.”
I watched her march out, feeling slightly buoyed by her certainty. Turning to Maddox and Emmett, I said, “Explain to me how you’re going to track them from my website login.”
Emmett gave me a long look. He glanced at Eli before he asked, “How much do you know about the back end of a website or how the internet works?”
