Page 15 of Hacker Salvation

“Almost. I want to grab my scripts and jewelry out of the study safe.”

I followed her down the stairs and looked out the window. The police were gone.

“I have some scripts in there. I’m supposed to be reading them.” She swallowed hard. “In case anyone still wants to work with me.”

I followed her into the study and stopped at the desk to look through some paperwork. Anything would help with the case. I grabbed the laptop off the desk. I would bring it back to the house for Neal to look at.

“There should also be more money in this safe along with my jewelry.” Annabella took a Monet off the wall and opened the safe behind it. Her jewelry wasn’t there either. She frowned. “I bought that jewelry. Could Nate have been having money issues?”

“We’ll have Neal look into his financials, but I assume he would have already found that yesterday when he was looking into Nate.”

The more we looked into Nate’s life, the more I thought he was on the run, especially with two house safes empty except for one stack of bills.

A loud crashing sound came from the kitchen. We weren’t alone in the house.

7

Annabella

John shoved me behind him and grabbed his gun. I didn’t even know he had a gun on him. “Stay,” he barked as he walked out the door of the study.

I had never been good at listening to orders, which was probably why I was marrying a man as a favor instead of dealing with men that I might be able to have a relationship with. I grabbed the scissors off of Nate’s desk and went through the door John had just walked through.

The moment my heel clicked against the hardwood floor, John looked over his shoulder and glared at me. Damn, that man was even sexy when he was mad. I slipped out of my heels and padded behind him. When he entered the kitchen, I heard a loud scream. Rounding the corner, I ran into a hard body. John had stopped a few feet into the chef’s kitchen.

I peeked around his massive body and found my ex-housekeeper trying to enter the security room.

“What are you doing here?” I yelled. “I could have you arrested for breaking and entering.”

The older lady had her hands up, but she still glared in my direction. “I came to get a few of my things.”

“John, put the gun down.”

He held the gun pointed directly at Ms. Orchard for several long moments before he finally lowered it.

“So you thought you would enter my home and get what you need?” I asked her. “That is not how it works. You were fired. On top of that, you broke an NDA when you recorded my fiancé and me.” When I said fiancé, John tensed beside me.

The older lady sat down on a barstool. “Why do you keep acting like you don’t know? You’re behind this. They told me you were.” Tears streamed down her face.

John looked at me for answers, but I didn’t have any.

“Who?” I asked, confused.

She sniffled a few times before answering. “I don’t know who they are. All I know is I have to do everything they want or they’re going to hurt my son.”

The hair stood up on the back of my neck. I grabbed a soda from the fridge and took the seat next to her. “Ms. Orchard, what is your son’s name?”

John didn’t sit down. Instead, he leaned his hip against the counter and watched the woman like a hawk. He crossed his arms, causing his black T-shirt to stretch tightly over his bulging biceps. He seemed to work hard to always angle himself so the scar on the side of his face was turned away.

“Pedro Orchard,” she whispered.

I hoped the surprise didn’t show on my face. “Did you know your son was dating my fiancé?”

Ms. Orchard’s eyes darted back to the security room. “Yes.”

“Is that why you framed me for Nate’s supposed murder?”

“But theyaremissing. The men who have been after Nate and Pedro told me you’re working with them as well.”

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