Page 81 of Token

“Cynical much?” Who said anything about breaking up with her? And he wasn’tjustfucking her.He was in lo—

Whoa.Nate pulled back sharply before completing the thought. He then addressed his friend more gruffly than he intended. “Boy, Kaitlin really did a number on you.”

Jack remained silent, not denying it.

Even after he found out his ex cheated on him, he hadn’t called off the wedding. Who did? Kaitlin, two weeks before they were supposed to walk down the aisle together. And if that wasn’t enough, his father started dating a woman almost half his age not even a month after their divorce papers were filed. Jack had to hear about it every time he visited his mother, who now used him as her personal sounding board.

Women sucked. Marriage sucked. Relationships with the opposite sex sucked. That was the place Jack was coming from.

Nate didn’t envy him. And for that reason alone, he cut him some slack. “Think of me hiring the agency as an act of nepotism since Aurora’s an equal partner.”

Jack studied him before holding his hands up in surrender and conceding with a tight smile. “Hey, your company, your call.”

“Good. I’m glad that’s one thing we can agree on.”

21

Breaking News: Massive cyberattack hits Fortune 500’s top companies.

Kennedy received the first notification on her phone on Friday at four o’clock in the afternoon. She instinctively reached out to their IT administrator. Token was about as far from a Fortune 500 company as one could get, but it never hurt to check and make sure their system was in the clear.

“I knew you’d call. I’m on my way,” Keith said as soon as he picked up. Not a half minute later he was in her office. Keith Smith, a heavyset, fifty-three-year-old Black father of six, had been one of their first hires and was worth every penny they paid the experienced IT professional.

“I guess you heard,” he said as he approached her desk. “It’s all over the news and social media, but you don’t have to worry—we’re good. Our system is airtight. Payroll is good and so is the client database.”

“Have they said which companies were hit? Is it a ransom attack?” Kennedy asked as she scoured the article on her monitor for names.

Keith came behind her desk and peered over her shoulder. “I don’t think it’s a ransom attack. A reporter tweeted there’s been an email dump. They’re going through it now.”

Kennedy looked up at him, eyes wide. “Oh crap. That might actually be worse than a ransom attack. I hope everyone kept their emails G-rated.”

Keith harrumphed. “I wouldn’t count on it.”

“You’d think after the Sony debacle people would learn.”

“If people learned from history, the world wouldn’t be in the shape it’s in.”

Kennedy couldn’t argue with that. Humans were the stubbornest species in existence, and just as past hacks hadn’t stopped people from sending inappropriate emails, this one would likely find the same. The only question was the amount and scope of the damage it would do.

“Okay, well, as long as we’re good, I guess I can breathe easy.” But her mind had already leaped to Nate and Constellation. As one of the top tech companies in the world, one would think their security rivaled whatever held the nuclear codes.

“Oh, and in case you’re wondering, I called a former employee who works over at Constellation, and it doesn’t look like they’ve been hit. Or at least, it doesn’t look like anyone was able to get through. But she’ll let me know more when she does. She thinks there could have been an attempt.”

Keith used to manage the IT department at a small software development company in northern New Jersey until it was bought by a software giant in California, which was where his job went. Several of his former employees had subsequently attained positions at Constellation.

“That’s a relief.” Nate had enough on his plate in having to deal with the lawsuit. Not that there was ever a good time to have to deal with a hack. Hacks were notoriously a bad thing.

When her cell phone started to ring, Keith quickly excused himself, saying, “I’ll let you get that. I’ll keep a lookout to see if any of our former or current clients were hit and let you know.”

Nodding absently, Kennedy answered her lover’s call. “Speak of the devil and he shall appear—or in your case, call. I was just talking to Keith about your company.”

Nate chuckled. “Wondering if we were part of the hack, huh? Not a chance. We have the best security in the business. What about you? Sounds like things are good.”

Kennedy turned and gazed at the gray overcast sky that promised a dreary day of rain and umbrella-crowded sidewalks. A tepid rainfall spattered raindrops against the window. “That’s the beauty of operating under the radar. Most people don’t know we exist, which is exactly the way we like it.”

“If you want, I can have someone on my security team check out whatever safeguards you guys have in place,” Nate offered.

That emotion filling her chest was gratitude, not the L word. She’d resisted putting a name to it, simply telling herself that she was most definitelyin lustwith him. The sex was fantastic. The best she’d ever had. That he was also easy to talk to, considerate, and he loved that she was ambitious didn’t mean he wasThe Onefor her. It didn’t mean she was inL.O.V.E.with him. Real love required they make it beyond the honeymoon stage of their relationship.

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