Page 32 of Matteo

I clear away the mess in the kitchen, and then start boxing up the baked goods ready to take them to the senior center, when my cell phone rings.

It's a number I don't recognize.

“Elizabeth.”

I get goosebumps when I discover who it is. His voice is smooth and controlled, as always, but my heart starts hammering in my chest. “Yes?”

“It’s Paul Knight.”

I know.

“Oh. Uh … hi ... Mr. Knight.”

My stomach drops to the floor.

Why is he calling me?

On a Saturday.

On my cell phone.

Every interaction so far regarding the job has gone through HR. Paul Knight doesn’t call people like me directly. Not unless something has gone very, very wrong.

A hundred disastrous possibilities crash through my head.

He discovered my past. That’s what terrifies me.

My pulse starts racing.

“Is … uh … is everything okay?” I ask, unable to keep the anxiety out of my voice.

“I'd like to offer you the job.”

Chapter 10

MATTEO

I guess they need to know, especially since she's going to walk through the door in the next hour.

Alex, Sonny and Joel, my tech leads, walk into my office for a meeting and sit around the big glass table in the corner.

I've never seen a job offer go out so quickly. What is the fucking rush here? The old man told me over the weekend that Elizabeth Raven is joining us. I tried to keep my cool. Tried not to get too worked up about it. I figure he's telling me things as late as possible because he's trying to rile me up.

That's what he does. It's a sport for him. He's gone through most of my brothers. He recently finished with Zach and now he's on my back.

Pretty soon, he'll be on Enzo's.

The man is a psycho.

“What new issues have we discovered?” I ask.

“I was locked out of the development server this morning,” offers Sonny.

Joel sinks back against his chair. “My credentials were revoked overnight.”

“The usual problems,” Alex mutters. “But nothing too devastating,” he adds.

I think about the pattern of behavior over the past month. We’ve had login attempts at odd hours, minor permission mismatches. User settings changing without explanation. Logs altered just enough to make us question ourselves.