Page 86 of The Refusal

Hundreds of apartments in New York are like this.

I turn the page and,oh God, the sofa is the one his mom and dad were sitting on. My gaze tracks down the page; it’s all about her interior design business. Did she design Janus’s apartment? And then the words “recently separated from her husband” leap out at me, and a crawling sensation makes my head swim. I stare off at two flight attendants talking around the curtain farther up the plane.

I skim back up and start to read the article properly. The first paragraph references her “extremely close personal relationship with Janus Phillips, the tech entrepreneur.”

Extremely close? He didn’t think to mention any of this when we were in Hong Kong?

Did I misinterpret that wholeWall Street Journalinterview?

Maybe it wasn’t about me at all. Maybe he was heading off publicity about their security, supporting “a supplier.” He said, “Every guy would love Jo Williams, she’s the consummate professional.” And that also reads in a “well, of course, everyone loves Jo” kind of way.

That I’m terrific and I’m great to work with, but it’s not a romantic thing. Did the journalist twist it like they make up every damn thing they write?

I groan. Janus is gorgeous and he dates models, and now he’s got a beautiful woman sitting in his living room who’s he’s apparently “extremely close” to. The way she leaned into him at that dinner, the intimate smile on his face; theywereclose.

Maybe he’s sleeping with her? He said he helped her rein her husband back in. What sort of “help”? What did he say? “I’ve hooked up a few times, sure.”

We never talked about other people when we were in Hong Kong. I assumed he wasn’t sleeping with anyone, but how do I know that?Oh my God, Jo. I flap my top, sweating.

* * *

My eyes jerk open to a roar of plane engines and a bump, bump, bump along the tarmac. After we’ve grumbled at each other all the way through security, I bundle a sleepy Des into a taxi, standing and watching the taillights disappear. How can I go and see Janus now? What if she wasthere?

Another yellow cab pulls up in front of me. My limbs move like lead and nausea churns through my stomach, so when the taxi driver jumps out for my suitcase and asks for an address, I give him mine. I stare out of the window as New York flashes past, thinking of her fingerprints all over his apartment and on his arm at the dinner. How many other women have had their hands all over him? The door to my apartment sticks and a whole pile of mail scrunches up behind the door before I kick it closed and stumble down the hall, dumping my bag and collapsing onto the bed. Five minutes. I close my eyes. I’ll sort it all out after that.

I wake to a darkening sky outside and wipe my hand across my mouth, blinking as a dream slips away from me. The persistent buzz of my phone is making the table next to me vibrate, and I pick it up, jerking in surprise when a picture of James, taken at the office when he was looking over his glasses at me, appears on the screen. I swipe and hold it to my ear.

“James?” My voice sounds like dusty gravel.

“Jo, thank God I’ve got you,” he says, words pushed out on a long exhale.

“What’s up?”

“It’s Janus Industries. Janus got a text last night, a warning, and then they got into the system half an hour ago, and they’ve been taking parts of it down: They want Fabian.” His voice doesn’t sound like him at all.

“What do you mean theywant Fabian?”

“That’s their ransom request.”

“Ransom request? Who the hell arethey?”

“Where are you?” he says.

“At home. Where are you?”

“I’m at Janus’s offices with Janus and a couple of people from his team. Fabian’s on his way, more of Janus’s people are on their way. That pattern detection algorithm you and Fabian wrote is good, Jo, really good, and we’ve finally pinned down who they are: a bunch of hackers that Fabian has come across in the past. I think he’s done some stuff that’s got them pissed, but he’s being tight-lipped about it.”

“I’ll come straight there.”

“You don’t have to, but I wanted to bring you up to speed. We’re working on everything we can. I’ve got a couple of guys from the team in here with me.”

Forget that. I want to help. “I’ll come. I fell asleep after we landed.”

Why didn’t I contact Janus before I went to Samsung and while I was there? After what we shared in Hong Kong. After he gave me a contract with hiscompany. Iworkfor him for Christ’s sake. Where’s the professionalism he said I had? He could lose everything he’s worked for if we don’t get this right.

“Does anyone know?” I say.

“What do you mean? We all know of course …”

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