Page 62 of The Shadows We Keep

No one stands out. The only people to come in or out are Ms. Jensen and her yappy little dog and a food delivery person. The hairs on the back of my neck rise as I pause on the figure; a cap pulled down to cover their face, a brown paper bag with no descriptive emblem to determine where they work. Their frame is slight, and it doesn’t help that the oversized clothing shields me from any further evidence. Could be nothing, but it’s the unnecessary backpack slung over their shoulder that tells me not to let it go.

I shift the photo to the opposite screen and toggle back to my internal camera blowing up the six different feeds that run simultaneously all day.

I should probably tell Keira about them.

The thought pops into my head, but that’s not what’s important right now. That’s when I see it. All six cameras go black, their backup batteries kicking in a few seconds later. Then an almost undetectable glitch that loops the footage first at the front door and then through the rest that cover every angle of my apartment.

This shouldn’t be possible; I built my program from the ground up. It’s a closed-circuit system, programmed to work with the app I made and have sole access to. Its encrypted password protection should have kept anyone from gaining entrance, but apparently that’s not the case.

My anger heats, building from earlier. I’m so focused on digging through my code to find where they found entry. I don’t hear her footsteps approach, but the firm grip of her fingers on my shoulder pulls my focus from the screen. She lowers the most incriminating photo into my view, the two of us amidst our display at the club. That one I hadn’t noticed; it must have been at the bottom of the stack.

“So much for the member’s confidentiality clause atThe Red Door.” She drops the photo in my lap and moves to pull away, but my grip flies up tightening around her delicate wrist. Swiveling my chair in her directions, I move the photo from my lap in exchange for pulling her taut ass into it. My thumb rubs against the detailed line work covering the raised scars running vertically up her inner arm.

“Mhm, yes. I’d have to agree with you on that one, little one.” I whisper into her ear, trying to keep the malice from my tone.

Her head snaps in my direction. “What’s that supposed to mean? You’re the one who broke it. Who even took these photos, anyway?”

“Well, that would be the million-dollar question.” The look of confusion coating her eyes tells me she still hasn’t clued into the situation. But that slowly slips away as the light bulb goes off and concern replaces it.

“It wasn’t you?” The whispered squeak passes through her dusty rose lips.

“No. But I’ll figure it out.” Her stare leaves mine scanning the photos again and taking in the computer screens. While one runs through the security system code, the other still displays the camera system.I knew I should have told her.

“You have cameras in the apartment?”

“And outside.” I confirm. Her finger trails across the screen, mentally tallying their locations.

“Don’t waste your time, I’m going to have to change their hiding spots now anyway.”

“Wait, what? Why?”

I take a deep breath, finding the resolve to be open about the situation instead of keeping it from her. We saw how well that worked the last time. “I didn’t take the photos. And James didn’t leave them for me. Which means—” Before I can finish my thoughts, her hands tighten on my thighs, her eyes cast away, staring off into the hall.

“Someone else left them. Someone was in the apartment.” She finally puts two-and-two together.

I sigh. “Yeah, exactly.” My anger peaks. “Which they shouldn’t have been able to do with my system in place. And if they saw the camera feed it’s safe to say they’re smart enough to calculate where the cameras are located.”

“Call the company who installed it. They should have footage of whomever it was.”

The laugh tumbles from my lips, jostling her in my lap. “I am the company, sweetness. It’s my design, my program, my build. It should have been impenetrable.” My fist slams next to us against the solid desk. The unexpected outburst has her pushing from my lap and creating an unwanted space between us. She backs away slowly, turning to the built-in bookshelf. Her hands rest against the ledge of the counter, head hanging between her shoulders.

I follow her retreat slowly, swiping her raven locks to one side before I press in close. Her frame stiffens, but as the heat grows between us, each and every muscle relaxes as my lips meet the sensitive skin just below her right ear. The shiver it extracts causes my lips to tug with a smug smile. She might have pulled away when things unraveled before her eyes, but at least she didn’t run this time. We’re making progress.

“You’re safe with me, little one.”

Her huff of disagreement irks me.

“You literally just told me someone broke in because they made it past your homemade security system. That doesn’t exactly instill much confidence for me.”

“Mhm,” I press out, exhaling as I trace my fingers up and down her arms, pushing in harder against her back. “And if they’d tried while we were home, we’d be having a very different conversation, little one.”

TWENTY-SIX

KEIRA

Dirty Mind – Boy Epic

My life has always been a mess, filled with a plethora of trauma, so much so that this situation doesn’t even rank top three. But it has me intrigued. Why would someone care what I was doing enough to watch me from a distance? Besides Harkin, that is. Recording the ins and outs of my life and then dropping them off for the guy I’m...seeing? Fucking? Dating?

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