Page 66 of Deadly Secrets

“Deal,” Noah replied, shaking my hand.

May the odds be in my favor.

* * *

When Noah and I arrived at the apartment, Ander and Sienna were perched on the kitchen peninsula, looking confused while reading several documents scattered on the counter.

“What are you guys doing?” I asked.

“Ander found some documents in his dad’s office and took photos. We’re just going through them. Do you want to help us?”

We dug into every document for three hours, hoping to uncover helpful information. Ander had told us how he stumbled upon these papers after talking to his dad about the CEO position, but our efforts seemed useless without knowing what we were looking for.

“Look. It doesn’t make sense,” Ander blurted. “Some of these documents mention several lines of investigation with additional budget allocated to them, but when I look at the R&D pipeline, these aren’t included.” Ander had put aside several budget authorizations that apparently could not be found in the R&D report. “See? Here. Your dad signed these five documents, but when you look at the summary report, they’re not mentioned,” Ander commented while pointing at a document showing records of all Cos Pharmaceuticals’ research projects from 2010 to 2015.

“Maybe these projects were stopped, and that’s why they’re not there,” Noah stated while snatching four Budweiser cans from the fridge and handing them around.

“I thought about that too, but these other projects here say ‘terminated,’ so if they were stopped, it should say. They would be here.” Ander kept flipping through the documents, but he couldn’t spot any papers discussing the reasons behind those projects getting axed, assuming they were indeed terminated.

“Maybe you can ask your contact at Cos Pharma for any details. You should have access to that info.” I glanced at Sienna, but she appeared to ignore my comment.

“Wait a minute. What the actual fuck?!” Sienna burst out, her eyebrows furrowing in confusion. “Why is Professor James Reed’s name here?” Sienna gestured toward one of the budget allocation approvals that had caught Ander’s attention. Under the section labeled “Research Team Structure,” it read “Research Assistant Dr. James Reed.”

“Who’s Professor James Reed?” Noah asked, but everyone ignored him.

“How do you know it’s him? There must be thousands of James Reeds in the United States.” Ander made a good point, so I grabbed my phone and quickly searched for Professor Reed’s profile on the Stanford University website. It only took me a few clicks to find what I wanted.

“It is. Check this out,” I said while showing my phone screen to the group. Every single lecturer at Stanford had a profile under the Staff section with details about their professional career and merits. It was a long shot, but the information was there. From 2013 until 2016, Professor James Reed worked at Cos Pharmaceuticals. After that, he was employed as an assistant professor at Columbia University in New York before being offered a position at Stanford this year.

“Shit.” Sienna sighed. “If he worked for my dad, how come he’s never mentioned that to me?” We didn’t have an answer for her, so we just stayed quiet. “I guess I need to have a conversation with him tomorrow. I’ll speak with Peter, too, but I think including the CFO in the call would be best. He should know if there was a budget allocation toward these projects. He has been in the company for longer than I remember, so I’m sure he worked for my father around these dates.”

At least we now had a plan in place. Perhaps Professor Reed could share valuable insights from his time at Cos Pharma. I only worried this lead would turn out to be a dead end.

Chapter 27. TOO MANY SECRETS

(Sienna)

We spent the rest of the evening discussing what I should say when confronting Professor Reed. Part of me wanted to storm into his office and challenge him about not revealing his connection to my father, but Ander was right. If I approached him too aggressively, there was a chance he would shut down and refuse to share any information at all.

“I’m tired, guys. I’m going to bed,” I announced, standing up from the kitchen stool.

“Can I have a word with you, Sienna?” Noah asked before I had a chance to leave the room. “In private.” Noah followed me to my room and closed the door behind him. He stood there, arms crossed over his chest, while I sat at the end of my bed, nervously patting my hands on my legs. I had a feeling about what he wanted to talk about, but I kept quiet and gave him a moment to gather his thoughts.

“I just wanted to tell you that I had a chat with Zayn, and we’ve cleared the air between us. So it’s all good.”

The last thing I wanted was to cause any bad blood between Zayn and Noah, so part of me was glad things were right again between them.

“I’m happy to hear that.”

Noah uncrossed his arms and closed the distance between us as he sat beside me. I averted my gaze to my hands, idly toying with the hem of my dress. He lifted his right hand and locked my hair behind my ear. The contact made my skin burn. Noah noticed the blush creeping into my cheeks and softly chuckled.

“Noah…” I breathed while turning to face him. “I know you and Zayn want an answer from me, but I’m not ready to give you one yet. Honestly, you know how much I like you, but choosing you means losing Zayn, and I don’t want that. I know I’m very selfish for wanting you both, but I’m trying to be honest. Sorry if my indecision hurts you both. It’s not intentional; that is why I haven’t decided yet, and I don’t know if I can make one. I don’t want to hurt any of you.”

Noah kept quiet for a few seconds before he spoke. “I know…we’ll give you more space if that’s what you want. I just wanted to tell you that I haven’t changed my mind. I want you, Sienna. Badly. You’re incredible. You’re smart, funny, sweet, and fucking gorgeous. Believe me when I say all I want right now is to rip off your clothes and fuck you right here, but I’ll hold myself back from doing anything stupid like kissing you.”

Noah dropped his gaze to my lips.

I wanted him. But I also wanted Zayn. “Thank you for understanding, Noah.”

---