Page 118 of Accidental Theirs
Roland.
“Roland?” Olivia takes a few steps forward. “What are you doing here so late?”
He flushes. “Listen, don’t be mad.”
“Don’t be mad?” She looks like she’s about to rush him.
“I heard that Carter Holdings is in some trouble. Financially. I wanted to see for myself and see if it was just rumors.”
I sigh, deflating. This has nothing to do at all with the link. Unless...
“Where’s your key card?”
Roland blinks. “Oh, I dunno. I lost it like a week into working here, but I always remembered the code.”
“And you didn’t report it lost?”
He shrugs, and I groan.
Olivia looks a bit relieved that her friend didn’t betray her. Of course, it isn’t Roland.
But it’s someone who got ahold of his key card. They’re posing as him, breaking all kinds of policies and maybe a few laws.
It’s certainly fraud, especially if they’re benefiting financially from some of these leaks, which I can only assume they are.
“I guess the stakeout is over,” Olivia mumbles, looking disappointed.
I grin, taking her hand. “It doesn’t have to be.”
Roland gives us a withering look.
“Gross,” he mutters, and then goes into the records hall.
I look down at my briefcase, grabbing it from the passenger side. I pull out my tablet and make a few adjustments, showing her the screen.
“I downloaded the live stream from the cameras. There’s also a ping every time someone accesses the building. It’ll log the next time that someone gets in.”
“Oh, wow, technology is cool.” She looks up at me curiously. “But... if you had this, we never really had to stake this place out at all.”
My cheeks feel hot. “Uh, well... I guess I didn’t realize.”
I almost expect her to make fun of me, but she doesn’t, just smiling.
“Chips weren’t enough to tame the beast. Buy me food?”
“Anything you want.” I lead her back to the car, and we go through the driveway of a greasy burger joint.
She happily eats all her fries in the car, and I can’t stop smiling at her as we head into her apartment.
“You’re in a good mood.”
“I’m with you.” I shrug and inwardly wince at myself for being so corny.
She beams at me. “That’s so sweet, Damien.”
I rub a hand across the back of my neck, not sure what to say. I wonder if my face is as red as it feels.
I’m... happy. Almost giddy. I’m not used to feeling like this, and I don’t know what will happen if this baby isn’t mine and it’s all taken away.
