Page 116 of Mr. Hook-up

He opened it up and said, “This is proof that the email Drake supposedly sent from her address at Faceframe was traced back to an IP address in Palo Alto.”

“Where I clearly wasn’t,” Drake replied, “since you all know I was stranded in an elevator with Easton.”

She’d hacked into Faceframe’s database to get that information, something she hadn’t needed to do. But I understood why she’d gone that far. Drake wasn’t the kind of woman who was going to let everyone else do the work while her name was being tarnished.

“No longer needed, but a hell of a finding,” I told her. I unscrewed the cap of my water bottle and took a long drink. “Let’s talk about David for a second and paint a clearer picture, so you understand everything that transpired. He’s the reason we were able to prove that you had zero involvement with the Dating Place.”

David, sitting next to me, tapped his fingers across my arm. “You came up with the idea. Don’t give me all the credit.”

I waved off my longtime employee, appreciating his humbleness, but he needed to know that most of this was because of him. “On my suggestion, David reconnected with his old partner, Brennon, one of our founding developers. We’ve discussed him before, Drake, and you know he went to work for Faceframe.” I paused, receiving no reaction from her. “My intention was to use Brennon to get an in, for David to fake his unhappiness to him and score an interview so he could get in the door and obtain as much information as possible on Faceframe’s new division. I certainly didn’t expect to uncover that Brennon was the director of Dating Place, but that’s what happened.”

She pulled her sweater closed, wrapping her arms around her stomach. “I knew of him. He was a developer. I had no idea he’d been promoted or that this division had been created.”

“He told us as much,” Grayson said. “And not only did he confirm your innocence, he confirmed he was responsible for the design of the Dating Place.”

I could tell she was processing this news, so I added, “Here lies the problem. He helped establish Hooked—the design, the proprietary software, the entire infrastructure. He then went to Faceframeand copied our designs. He shared our software with intent to hurt our company, and now that concept has gone live in certain markets.”

She shook her head. “He can’t do that.”

“We know,” I told her. “After we met with Brennon, we flew to LA and had a meeting with Declan Shaw, the top litigator in the state of California, and with his associate, Camden Dalton. We’re going after Brennon and Faceframe.”

Silence filled the room.

“I’m sorry Brennon did this,” Drake said softly. “I didn’t know him well. Only in passing. But I hate that he went against Hooked, the company that started his career. That would be like me going against Faceframe—something I wouldn’t dream of doing.” She stared at Holden, Grayson, and finally me as she said, “I wouldn’t go after Hooked either.”

“You shouldn’t be the one apologizing.” Holden rubbed his hands together. “You’ve been hurt by this, severely affected—we know that. We aren’t happy about it.”

“Drake ...” I shook my head as I gazed at the woman I loved. “You have to know that if I was in your shoes, as a partner, I would have been treated the same way. Our in-house counsel has standard operating procedures. All she was doing—all we were doing—was following them to protect Hooked. This wasn’t personal, trust me when I say that.”

“I know,” she replied.

“We didn’t want to do this, Drake,” Holden added. “We didn’t want to have that meeting. We didn’t want to even consider that you had something to do with the Dating Place or that you were acting as a mole or that you had sent that email. But for the sake of Hooked, we had to do our due diligence. Although none of us were able to voice this, we didn’t think for a second that you were involved in any way.”

“Shit no,” Grayson said. “If you wanted access to our system, you would have hacked in—we all know that. You wouldn’t have wasted your time and taken a job here.”

Holden chuckled. “What he said, but that still doesn’t change our process and the steps we had to take.” He twisted the bottle of water between his hands. “In this building, Hooked comes first.”

“I get it,” she voiced. “And I appreciate the explanation. I knew my innocence would be proven, I just didn’t know how long it was going to take.” She eventually met my eyes. “I certainly didn’t expect the three of you to get on a plane and get answers as fast as you did.”

Grayson said, “We want you back, Drake.”

I watched his words resonate across her face, the emotion filling her eyes. The way she released her sweater, flattening her hand on her chest.

My hands tightened in my lap as I dreamed about holding her waist. “We wish you never had to leave, but we want you to be here now.”

“Absolutely,” Holden agreed. “You can easily explain to your team that the medical leave was halted earlier than expected or you were misdiagnosed—whatever you decide to tell them, we support. If you’d like to take a week or two before you return, you’re more than entitled to that time off. Or if you’d like to start back up tomorrow”—he grinned—“that would make us very happy.”

She wouldn’t allow the tears to drip, but they were there, pooling, softening the lines in her face.

“Whatever you decide,” I chimed in, “we just hope you do come back.”

She took a moment to respond, “I want that.”

“How quickly?” Grayson asked her. “My friends here are all about time, but I’m you in the interim and I have no idea what I’m doing.” He ran his hand over the top of his head. “Let’s just lay it out there and say I’m no Drake Madden and the idea of leading your team onan international rollout is nothing short of fucked. So I’m going to ask you: Is tomorrow too soon?”

She smiled, even laughed a little, patting her fingers under her eyes. “If I didn’t know better, I’d think you’re groveling.”

“Grayson, grovel?” I teased. “I’ve never seen such a thing in my life.” I smiled at my girl, winking at her. “Whatever you decide, we support. We just ask that you give Grayson a little heads-up regarding the timeline of your plans before he shits himself.”

---