Page 48 of Seal My Fate

And if we don’t expose them… Ashford will keep coming after Wren to silence her. We got away at the cottage last night out of sheer luck—but how long will that luck hold?

I don’t want to find out. Which means we have to get into the laboratories tonight to download those original datasets.

We pull up outside the building and get out of the car. I take a deep breath. The huge marble lobby lies silent, the lights of the city glittering outside the vast glass frontage.

“Ready?” Saint asks, looking determined.

“Ready.” I nod.

He slings an arm around my shoulder, and we head for the main doors.

“Evening, Sayeed,” Saint calls to the guard on duty, as we stroll in. I make a show of tottering on my heels, clinging to Saint’s arm in my skintight dress like a wide-eyed date.

“Mr. St. Clair,” the guard looks surprised to see him here so late. “Burning the midnight oil?”

“Something like that. I promised this one a tour of the CEO’s office,” Saint gives me a meaningful look, and I giggle.

“Can you really see Buckingham Palace from your window?” I coo.

“You’ll be seeing a whole lot more, darling.” Saint squeezes my ass, every inch the bachelor playboy.

Saint swipes his security pass and steers me through—just as a pizza delivery guy barges in, half-hidden behind a stack of boxes. “Order for Moussad?”

The guard frowns. “That’s me, but I didn’t call for any pizza.”

“Moussad, Ashford Pharma, a dozen pepperoni, says right here.” The pizza guy deposits them on the lobby desk. “That’s a hundred and forty-four quid, plus tip.”

“But I didn’t order anything.”

“Your name’s on the order.”

“I’m a bloody vegan!”

They start to bicker over the mystery order, as Saint and I approach the elevators. When we’re sure that the guard is distracted by our little pizza delivery ploy, we veer off, diving into the stairwell instead.

The door swings shut behind us.

I hurry down the stairs, but Saint catches my hand. “Slow down,” he says, pulling me into a kiss on the first landing. “We’re on a romantic tour, remember?”

I force myself to take a breath, whispering there together like a pair of young lovers. There are cameras everywhere, and since we have no way of avoiding them or shutting them off, we have to pull this off in full view of the security team.

"Once everyone is packed up and gone for the night, the guards just hang out, playing video games and watching for anyone out of place,” Saint murmurs, still nuzzling at me. “They’re not going to come after the CEO for taking a little after-hours tour of the place.”

“OK…” I nod, steeling myself. Then I back away, giving Saint a big flirty beckoning gesture. “Why don’t you show me your equipment, hot stuff?”

He grins. “My laboratories get you hot, hmmm?”

“So hot.” We descend another level, hand-in-hand, and then I nod to the door. “Here. Phillip said his office was on Level Two.”

We push open the stairwell door, and into a long, sterile-looking hallway. Fluorescent lights shine brightly overhead, and doors lead off on each side. “It’s near the server room,” I remember.

“This way, I think.” Saint leads me through an open area, filled with workstations and science-y looking equipment. We’re halfway across the room, when suddenly, voices sound nearby.

Fuck.

Saint and I exchange a look of panic. Then Saint dives behind the nearest desk, pulling me after him. We crouch there together, my heart pounding, as a lab door swings open, and two women in white coats emerge.

“… No, see everyone thinks the song is about Joe, but it’s really about Karlie, after their road trip to Big Sur…”

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