Page 150 of Bossy Hero

Mia’s right. We may never send this damn email.

Lettie passes them out to us, flashing a flirty wink at Tomer. I try not to roll my eyes or groan audibly.

And I almost succeed.

This might be the only time I’ll ever feel grateful I wasn’t able to raise her. If I had, I’d probably be nauseated by how lovey-dovey they always are.

However, seeing my daughter happy with the man I consider a son does bring a smile to my face.Afterthe indigestion passes.

Klein straightens his pages, tapping them on the table. “Why did you want these printed, T?”

“Something struck me about the architect’s weird message. He said he preferred paper to digital reading. Perhaps he was talking about the files he sent us. If so, maybe we’ll see something here we couldn’t view on our monitors.”

Everyone’s eyes fall to the pages, searching for a hidden message.

Lettie lingers beside Tomer, putting her hand on the back of his chair. “I don’t mean to butt in where I wasn’t invited, but may I share something?” She looks to me for approval to continue.

“Go ahead,” I instruct her, adding a warm smile.

“Boss, you don’t smile at us that way,” Shep whines, his lips rolling into a pout. “I’m starting to feel like you like her better.”

Tomer flashes a snarky grin at Shep. “Everyone likes her more than they like you, Shep.”

I groan and give them both a glare. “Lettie, you were saying?”

“Well, the reason it took me a while to bring y’all the copies is ’cause I thought there was a problem with my printer. There are these faint little marks. So I sent it to another printer. Same thing.”

“What little marks, sugar bear?” Tomer asks her, lifting the first page closer to his face.

“I see them too,” Klein chimes in.

“Here, right?” Mia asks her, pointing at tiny light gray specs under each name.

Lettie nods eagerly. “Yeah. So maybe he wanted you to print it out so you’d see them.”

Mia jumps up, bolting across the room with the pages in hand. Moving like a machine, she shoves the window shades to the side and presses one of the papers flat against the window.

“What are you doing, tiger?” Klein asks.

“Reading it in anew light,” she mutters. “There’s definitely a message here. I see aBand aC. Or is that anE? Damn, it’s small. Anyone have a magnifying glass?”

“I’ll take a picture of it and zoom in,” Tomer suggests.

Smart.

We all stride over, quickly huddling around her. Tomer snaps a photo and then increases the magnification. His lips move silently.

Shep smacks him lightly on the back of his head. “Read it out loud, fuckface.”

Tomer’s cheeks fade to a grayish pale. “Sorry. It’s a warning.” His already flat voice loses all emotion as he reads it aloud. “Be careful who you share this list with. Trust is in short supply these days.”

“That’s it?” Mia huffs, crossing her arms at her chest. “Because no fucking doy, Alexei.”

“Hold up the next page to the light,” I order her, pointing to the window.

We repeat the process.

This time, Tomer reads a series of numbers. “Write these down for us, sugar bear.” He points at the small grease board in the corner and reads the numbers aloud while Lettie jots them down.

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