Page 25 of Suspicious

I shift my ass up to sit on top of his desk while taking it all in. Letting out a small laugh, I shake my head and turn my gaze to meet his questioning stare. “No… you’re definitely not that nerdy young guy anymore… now you’re a nerdy biker. It’s actually kinda hot,” I quip, and he scowls, shifting from the wall and moving to his desk chair to take a seat in front of the main curved computer screen.

“What did Theo have to say?” he asks, clearly avoiding the topic of what happened with us in the hall but asking in a roundabout way if my brother saw us.

“He wants to know where we’re at with the app breach. He’s understandably anxious.”

Loki sits back in his chair, getting comfortable. “Okay, I’m listening. I need you to tell me everything you know about this breach before I go digging.”

Hesitating for a moment, I wonder if I should bring up what happened.

Just get everything out in the air and talk about this like adults.

But honestly, I don’t know how that conversation will go. And right now, the app is what is important, not my historical andcurrent tension with Loki.

I decide to let it go.

For now.

“So, a couple of nights ago, the app was breached, and from what Theo has been able to source, all the personal information and the health data of our clients has been taken. The source code looks to be from a singular attack, and thus far, Theo hasn’t been able to find any of our clientele information leaked on the dark web.It looks like this might have been a targeted attack on our app.”

Loki furrows his brow, sitting forward, scrubbing at his temple. “Why the fuck would anyone target a health and wellness app?”

Sinking in on myself, I prepare to tell him the whole truth. “I received some emails over a few weeks that were becoming more and more demanding in nature. They wanted the information from our clientele on the app. I dismissed them as spam, as you do, but then this happened. Then they sent the email blackmailing me for money to be paid in thirty days, or they leak the hack. I honestly don’t know how the hell they even got in.”

Loki groans, shaking his head. “Gimmie your cell.”

I furrow my brows. “What?”

“Bea, your fucking cell.Now!”he demands.

Jumping up with how serious he sounds, I pull the cell from my pocket and hand it over to him without question. He swipes the screen, and my muscles tense. “You don’t know my passcod—”

But then he enters it without hesitation, gaining access to my phone.

Slumping my shoulders, I sink back down onto the desk. “Oh,” I whisper.

Loki slowly glances up at me, tilting his head. “I know you, Bea,” he says, his voice deep, carnal, and so incredibly fuckingsexy it has my insides shaking as we stare at each other for a moment. Our eyes connect as the air floods with that fire, that spark that has always been between us. Even with the years apart, it still burns so fucking intense. Then he clears his throat, shakes his head, and drops his eyes from mine back to my cell, breaking the connection.

I canfinallybreathe again.

Loki moves through my cell, checking things, and then he opens my mail system, beginning to search through my emails. Furrowing my brows, I watch him as he studies the emails closely. Then he spins, grabs a cord, and plugs my cell into his computer. It instantly starts dinging, and I jerk with the noise as he types with such speed into his software.

“What are you looking for?” I ask, wanting to know what his thought process is.

“I’ll know when I see it.”

My stomach churns, waiting, watching, hoping that he finds something to help when he lets out a grumble like he’s really fucking annoyed. He frantically starts typing into his computer like a maniac, as if he’s trying to combat something.

My mind is racing, and I’m confused as to what is happening. I stand, moving in behind him, but I don’t say anything because I know he’s deep in the zone. His fingers move with the speed of lightning—it’s fascinating to watch, but then he stops suddenly. He cranes his neck to the side and turns to face me with a look of annoyance crossing his face.

Shit!

I think I’ve done something stupid.

“The emails they sent you, the ones you thought were spam, they had encryption in them. Now this is important, Bea…” he pauses, and my heart races. “Did you, at any time when you had those emails open, click onanyof the links in the emails?”

My chest instantly begins to tighten, and I struggle to draw ina full breath. My heart races, pounding so hard I swear I hear it echoing in my ears. My hands start to tremble uncontrollably, my vision blurring as tears well up in my uncertainty. The room begins to spin, and I grip the edge of the desk, desperate to steady myself. My thoughts race, tumbling over each other in a chaotic swirl. Did I do this?I can’t shake the overwhelming feeling that the walls are closing in, suffocating me. I squeeze my eyes shut, willing the panic to stop, but it keeps rising, relentless and unyielding. “I… I don’t know. M-maybe? I was in a rush that day. I was flicking through things frantically. Oh God, Alex…. I might have accidentally done it. I vaguely recall hitting something, then flicking out of it in my mad rush.Did I do this?”The last part comes out as a breathy whisper as I snap my eyes back open.

Loki glances at me somberly as he scrubs at his bearded chin. “They downloaded spyware to your cell through one of the emails. Whatever you clicked on, put the bug in the system that activated the coding to search through the health and wellness app to source all the contact details and personal data.”

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