Page 45 of Seal My Fate

“I’m not a doctor,” Wren reminds me. “And what happened last night… I never imagined they would try to kill us. Is this really worth your life?”

Her question sits, uneasy. Then Saint squeezes my hand.

“I’m afraid the moment to decide that came and went,” he speaks up. “Even if you walked away, Wren, they wouldn’t stop coming after you. Or Tessa. We have to see this through and expose them, it’s the only way for you both to be safe again.”

Wren sighs, giving a resigned nod. “Not all of us are St. Clairs, and indispensable,” she says, clearly trying to make light of it.

“Hey, there’s still one more brother to play heir. I’m not so hard to replace,” Saint replies with a smirk.

“Yes, you are,” I tell him, and he smiles, and leans in to drop a kiss on my lips.

Wren clears her throat loudly. “Snack, anyone?”

She exits to the kitchen, leaving Saint to kiss me more deeply. I melt against him, savoring the rush of heat that flares between us, no matter what else is going on in the messy, chaotic world.

With him, I always find peace.

Finally, he draws back, and tenderly brushes hair from my eyes. “How are you feeling? Is the wound OK?” he asks.

I nod. “It just stings a little, that’s all. The graze wasn’t even that deep. Wren says it may not even leave a scar.”

“Not on you, at least,” Saint says, softly tracing my bandage. “Seeing you bleeding like that took at least ten years off my life.”

“Then we’ll just have to make the most of what’s left,” I murmur, and kiss him again, until Wren loudly rejoins us. Then I reluctantly release him and try to get my head back in the game.

“If Phillip won’t help provide us with the evidence of Ashford’s fraud, we’re going to have to get it ourselves,” I announce.

Saint nods. “That’s what I’m thinking, too. What is it exactly you would need to confirm the drug trials were a fraud?”

“The raw datasets,” Wren replies, pacing restlessly. “Trials like this produce a massive quantity of data. Test subjects get checked for a hundred different things, sometimes weekly, to track their progress. We don’t just measure the effect of the drugs on their cognitive function, but blood, organs, cell structures, to make sure there aren’t damaging side effects,” she explains. “That raw test data gets analyzed and modeled a million different ways. No matter what miraculous results they presented for review, those original datasets will be on the system somewhere. We just have to find them.”

“Just,” I echo lightly.

Wren smiles. “Well, Phillipdidhelp,” she reports with a smirk. “He told us exactly where his office is: on the second basement level, next to the server room.”

“So that’s what you were fishing for!” I exclaim. “I wondered why you cared about all that small talk.”

“He couldn’t help bragging about his swanky new office,” she nods. “Now we knowwherewe can access the data, I just need to get in there and download it from his workstation. He’s the boss. If anyone will have full access, it’s him.”

“You’ll go?” I echo, and Saint immediately backs me up.

“No. No chance. Absolutely not.” He stands.

“Do you know how to read the raw data?” Wren counters.

“Do you want to walk in the doors of a building where everybody thinks that you’re dead, and the ones who don’t would like to make you that way, and soon?” Saint shoots back.

They face off, both just as determined at the other.

“Saint’s right.” I stand, moving between them. “Wren, come on. You can’t go near Ashford Pharma. Just one glimpse of you on the security cameras will cause an emergency, but he can walk right in without anyone thinking twice. It’s his name above the door!”

“I’ll copy everything to a hard drive, and bring it straight back for you to analyze,” Saint promises.

Wren looks frustrated, but she knows she can’t disagree. Saint has access beyond even the regular employees, and sure, they might be surprised to see him snooping around the laboratories, but I’m sure he can wing it.

Saint’s phone sounds. He checks the message. “It’s time,” he says, nodding to Wren.

“Time for what?” I ask, confused, as Wren retrieves her bag, and the things we bought today. "Where are you going?”

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