Page 62 of Return on Love

“Yet, you participated in the discussion for others, but never mine,” I blurt out.

Lily’s eyes go wide, waiting for some juicy tid-bit. Ryan casually looks at me. “I could never think of a question for yours. You covered almost everything there could be. I questioned only the ones where the analysis wasn’t thought out, or I had a different point of view. From yours, I only got to learn more than my own thoughts.”

“Wow!” Lily pips in. “And she thought you didn’t question her because you hated her. Just wow!”

“Shut up,” I tell Lily. “Don’t you have anywhere else to be? Go home. Don must be missing you.” I know Weber will leave soon and we won’t have access to his system once he leaves the premises.

“Don?” Ryan asks Lily. “Your boyfriend?”

“I wish. I’m single, by the way,” she winks at Ryan. “Don is my terrier. You have a dog, right? We should totally get them to meet sometime.”

“It’s a date,” Ryan says, winking back at her.

“One more thing,” she says, turning to me. “Bob called me earlier today. He said you’ve blocked his number so he couldn’t reach you. He’s moving to some other house and wanted you to take your remaining stuff from his place by tomorrow afternoon. Let me know if you want me to pick it up.”

“No. I’ll do it. I have to fight my own battles. Thanks Lils.”

She stands up to leave. “Watch your back, Eva. Weber, Neil, and Priscilla have been practically joined at the hip lately. Something’s brewing, and it might not be good for you. Just take care. Catch you on Monday. Nice meeting you, Ryan.”

As she walks out the door, I turn to Ryan. “We have to read those chats.”

But Ryan has already opened the chats and is scanning through them. I peer at the screen, our heads almost touching. He turns to me and I can feel his breath on my cheek. I have to use my entire control to keep myself from turning and putting my lips over his mouth.

His breathing quickens, and he quickly pushes his chair back to have some distance between us. “You notice how they’re conversing?”

I nod. I’d noticed it too. “They’re using acronyms. CC is probably CashCross. Weber is giving her all the information.”

“I think we need to get into her system as well,” Ryan says. “We need to know what she’s found on Bernard till now.”

“How? I can’t go in there and insert the flash drive. Moreover, it’s Friday. She’ll be leaving soon, if she hasn’t already.”

“Then you better hurry. See if you can do something. What if I steal her password and we access her email over the weekend?”

I shake my head. “Won’t work. She’ll get an immediate notification that someone is trying to access her email from some other system. We’ll also need an OTP that will come on her phone.”

“Okay, then I will just copy emails from the past month into my system. C’mon, let’s at least try.”

As I walk toward Priscilla’s cabin (yes, she has a cabin assigned to her already); I hate Ryan for getting me to agree to this. I hate that I have to walk again on these stupid heels. I’ve rarely spoken a word to her since she joined here. It was an unspoken thing between us. What will I even say to her? What do you say to the woman with whom your boyfriend cheated on you?

There's no time to dwell, her cabin is right ahead. Neil is inside, but he seems to be leaving. She’s taking out her purse. Shit! She’s probably leaving too. I have to get to her before she shuts down her system.

I make a run for it and right outside her door I stumble and fall. Neil hurries out.

“Eva! Are you hurt? What happened?”

“Nothing.” I wish the earth would part and I could just go deep inside and hide my shameful face.

“You sure?” Priscilla’s mocking voice comes from the door as Neil helps me up. An idea strikes me. Now that I’ve made a fool out of myself, I better use it for something, at least.

“Actually, I feel a little light-headed. Can I just sit for a few minutes?” I say, walking into her office and sitting down on the chair before she can even reply.

“Of course,” she says. Though I can’t see her, I can imagine her rolling her eyes in the classic Priscilla way.

“Well, if there’s nothing more I can do, I’ll take your leave,” Neil says, and leaves.

Priscilla’s laptop is right in front of me and I can see the brightly lit screen. She hasn’t switched it off yet. This is my moment. I take out the flash drive and hold it in my fist, keeping my hand on the table. Then I turn around, make my voice a little weak. “Sorry to bother, but can you get me a glass of water, please?”

The bottle is behind her. She’ll have to turn her back for a few seconds. That’s all I need. By the time she turns back, the flash drive is in place. Now all I have to do is prevent her from sitting in her chair and seeing her screen.

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