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"But you barely ate anything," Bonnie protested.

"I had a big lunch," Katherine said smoothly. I knew it was a lie. The way Angelica’s head lifted and her eyes trained on mine, she confirmed it. Her intense gaze told me to ‘fix it’. I nodded that I would.

Katherine and I escaped out the front door before anyone could object. The spring evening had cooled off, sun low but not quite set. We walked in silence down the driveway and turned onto the sidewalk, no particular destination in mind.

"Thank you," she said once we were out of earshot. "The chaos was getting to me. I guess I’m just not used to it."

"Really?"

“Maybe I am, but it seemed like too much today,” she slowly admitted.

“I understand. The Drakos’ clan can be a lot to take on.”

"But they're your family."

"They're Jase's family. I see the Drakos en masse maybe every three years. Usually at Christmas, which is even worse. Eighteen siblings, most with kids now. It sounds like a school cafeteria."

She laughed, soft and genuine. "And I thought Hollywood parties were overwhelming."

We walked past tidy houses with American flags and porch swings. Normal suburban Tennessee. A few people waved from their porches. I nodded back but kept walking.

"What did you find?" Her voice dropped, tension creeping back. "On my devices?"

"Your laptop's been compromised for at least four months."

She stopped dead. "That's impossible. I have one of the best antivirus software programs available. My business manager insisted on it."

"Off-the-shelf programs are decent for basic threats. Useless against targeted attacks." I stopped to look at her, then put my hand lightly at the small of her back to guide her along. "Someone installed a RAT on your system."

"A rat?"

"Remote Access Trojan. Gives them complete control of your computer. They can activate your camera, microphone, log keystrokes, access all your files."

Her face went pale. "They've been watching me? For four months?"

"Possibly. The installation date was January fifteenth. Ring any bells?"

She thought, then her expression shifted. "The Golden Globes afterparty. I left my laptop in my hotel room. I left the do not disturb sign on my room. Nobody should have gone in."

I shook my head. "That wouldn’t have stopped anyone who was watching you and was serious about getting access to your systems. Physical access is the easiest way to bypass antivirus completely." We turned onto a quieter street, fewer houses, more trees. "Physical access means they either had a key card or paid off hotel staff."

"How does that bypass antivirus? Isn't that what it's supposed to prevent?"

"Two main ways. First, they boot from an external drive." I kept my explanation simple, no technical jargon. "Imagine your computer's like a house. Antivirus is your security system, but it only works when you're home. If someone breaks in while the house is empty, while your computer's turned off, they can disable the alarm before you get back."

"That's terrifying."

"Second method's even simpler. They use a USB device that pretends to be a keyboard. Your computer trusts keyboards, lets them do almost anything. The device types commands faster than humanly possible, installs the malware before antivirus can react."

"So, my antivirus was useless?"

"Not useless. But think of it like a lock on your door. Keeps out casual thieves, not professionals with the right tools."

She stayed quiet for half a block, processing. "What can people do to protect themselves?"

"Never leave devices unattended in hotels. Use a privacy screen and camera covers. Enable two-factor authentication on everything. Most importantly, use a VPN and encrypt sensitive files."

"I don't even know what half of that means."