Page 64 of Velvet Chains
“She wants to meet today,” I said.
“Then we stall. I’ll send her office a calendar request for tomorrow. That buys us—what? Eighteen hours to figure out what she knows and how deep this goes.”
“She knows about the obstruction,” I said. “She said it.”
“Then we’re assuming they’ve got eyes in your office,” Alek said. “Or ears. Or both.”
I froze. “You think I’m being surveilled?”
“Itold youyou were being surveilled. At home, here…who knows where else?”
I stood too fast. “Jesus.”
Alek was already rising, moving around the desk. “Hey,” he said. “Breathe.”
“I am breathing.”
“No, you’re panicking. Which, for the record, you’re allowed to do—just not in your glass-walled office while half the bullpen can see you.”
I turned to face the window. My own goddamn reflection stared back at me—drawn, pale, jaw tight. A few people glanced up, but most were distracted by their own work.
Still, Alek was right.
I needed to calm the fuck down.
“Do you…” I paused, looking around. “Do you think they have surveillance in here?”
Alek’s jaw tightened. “I already checked a few days ago…nothing. It’s more likely they tapped your phone and are using eavesdropping employees here in your office. You’re good.”
But I wasn’t good, was I? If they’d tapped my phone, they’d listened as I asked Kieran to make me come.
I was so,sofucked.
“I think I’ve made a mistake,” I said, voice thin. “A big one.”
“I hope it’s a big one,” he said. “Otherwise, how is any of this worth it?”
Despite myself, that made me laugh. “Really? Dick jokes?”
Alek smiled. “Hey, it made you laugh,” he said. “That was all I wanted.”
I tried not to fold in on myself. “I can’t lose her, Alek.”
“You won’t.”
“She’s the only thing I’ve ever gotten right,” I whispered. “If I lose her because I—because I didn’t slam the door fast enough—”
“Ruby.” His voice was firmer now. No teasing. “You didn’t fuck up because you’re weak. You fucked up because you’re human. And they don’t get to weaponize that.”
“They’re the federal government. They can weaponize whatever the fuck they want.”
He didn’t argue. He just grabbed the legal pad from the edge of the desk and dropped it in front of me.
“Start writing. Everything. Dates, texts, where he was, what happened. If there’s any security footage, if you think you were seen. Everything. No omissions.”
I picked up the pen.
“And then?” I asked.
