Page 42 of It's Not All Fake

“Fine,” Ashley huffs. “But you need to get your shit in order.”

“I will. Thanks, Ash.” I hang up. It’s the dose of reality that I needed.

I follow the tech guy, Randy, into my office. “I’m gonna show you what I found but—oh, looks like it logged you out.”

“No problem,” I enter my password and step aside as Randy settles into my desk chair. He pulls out a granola bar to munch on while my slow computer loads back up.

I flip to the text conversation on my phone with Liam from this morning.

My stomach clenches up as I reread his latest texts:

Is it normal to fantasize about your life coach?

My heart stopped when I received this and, after many minutes of toiling over a response, I replied:

Definitely not.

I watched the bubbles on the screen as he typed, waves of excitement rolling through me, until he replied:

Then I think I urgently need another session to… work through this.

Meet me for dinner?

The message made me chuckle and blush inwardly. Of course, I agreed. He said he’d send a car to the office for me after my workday at six thirty—which is ten minutes from now.

“Okay, ma’am,” Randy interrupts my thoughts. “If you’ll look here.” He points to a window on the screen. “I’ve updated your antivirus software. You had spyware on there, which I removed.” He says it so casually, but it triggers alarm bells in my head.

“Wait, my client files might have been compromised?” I ask, feeling the panic surge.

“It’s hard to say for sure, but it’s possible.”

A wave of nausea hits me. Randy keeps talking, but his words meld into an indistinct murmur. I've potentially breached my clients' privacy—their deepest fears, hopes, and most personal secrets could all be exposed because of me. Images of their faces flash through my mind, each one a specter warning of the crisis yet to unfold.

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

“If you’d like, I can keep tabs on your system remotely to ensure this doesn’t happen again.”

“Um, yes,” I reply robotically, my whole body numb.

Randy senses my deep unease. “Ma’am, I’d recommend calling Tim. He’s Liam’s lawyer. You can ask him about legal steps to take with a potential leak of your confidential files.”

Oh, God—the legal implications too.

My heart sinks but I nod my head. “I spoke with him this morning about some issues with my ex.” I say it aloud without thinking and realize it’s probably an overshare with Randy the tech guy.

Randy frowns at me. “Does your ex have a reason to install spyware on your computer?”

A chill seizes me at the suggestion. Would Lucas do that?

“Um, maybe,” I choke out.

“Look, my buddy specializes in computer forensics.” Randy leans forward in my desk chair. “He can take a deeper look if you want.”

This is getting too crazy. I close my eyes briefly, trying to process everything. “I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to get it checked out.”

“I’ll see if he can swing by on Monday.” Randy pushes himself up from the chair and offers his hand.

I manage a small smile and shake his hand. “How much do I owe you?”

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