32. Sabrina
Ireally, really wished I didn’t have to bring Keith along for this. The kid was way too excited about the prospect of apprehending the thief, even though I’d told him over and over that we were only going to talk to Miranda. By the time we made it into the building, I’d heard a dozen possible scenarios of how Keith would incapacitate the thief and hold him until the police arrived. I’d given up trying to convince him that nothing even remotely exciting would happen and nodded along with his stories.
“There’s Miranda.” I directed Keith with a hand on his shoulder. “Let’s see what’s going on.”
Keith surveyed the coffee lounge with a keen eye. “Everything looks good. No sign of the thief anywhere.”
Thank God he kept his voice at a whisper. A handful of employees watched us approach Miranda and sit. Voices rose and fell with what sounded like dismay. I filtered them out and took the coffee Miranda offered.
Keith hopped into a chair and cradled the hot chocolate she’d ordered for him while continuing to scan the room.
“Okay.” I sipped the coffee and patted Keith’s knee. “Listen to Miranda.” I turned my attention to my friend. “What’s going on?”
“Well.” She propped her elbow on the table and cupped her chin in her palm. “I thought I saw one of your half brothers the other day.”
A bucket of ice water dumped down my back could not have chilled me more. “What does that have to do with anything?”
Miranda raised one perfect eyebrow. “He was here. In this building. When I stopped to talk to him, he said he was here to see you.”
“Yeah, right.” I scoffed so hard my nose hurt.
Keith sat wide-eyed, his head tipping back and forth as he followed the conversation.
“See, that’s what I thought. He took off into the elevator before I could ask him anything else. I didn’t really think too much about it. Thought maybe things had gotten better since you moved out, you know?” She shrugged her slim shoulders. “Anyway. I didn’t say anything to you. Figured if you wanted to talk about it, you would.” Another delicate shrug.
The ridges and curves on the ceramic mug dug grooves in the pads of my fingers from my increased grip. I took a deep breath through my nose and held it until I could talk without raising my voice. “Still not sure why that’s a problem. Maybe he couldn’t find me.” It wasn’t like everyone had access to the CEO floors. “Which one was it?” That didn’t really matter either, but maybe it would spark something. I didn’t know anything about a visit from any of my half brothers. Though if Bailey knew where I was working, I wouldn’t put it past her to send one of them to spy on—and/or sabotage—me. No way Bailey had figured out I worked at Grady. No way. I refused to give her that much credit. She might be an astute accountant but that was the limit of her skills. That and ruining my life. Okay, so maybe she did have a knack for figuring things out … when it came to me, anyway.
“The blond one. Anyway.” Miranda waved a hand. “The point is, I saw him again today.”
“Here?”
She nodded, eyes wide. “Here. And this time, he looked out of sorts. Nervous. You know?” Her hands fluttered over her coffee cup. “Real twitchy-like. Wouldn’t look at anyone and hurried to the elevators like his shoes were on fire. Never seen a more awkward nerdy boy run.”
Yeah, I’d seen it a time or two through the years. “You called me because you saw one of my half brothers come through.” I tried to work out what it meant. Everything I’d dealt with already today took up so much space in my brain that this skipped over my head without landing. “Where did he go? Did you tell him I wasn’t here?”
“Couldn’t. By the time I recognized him, he was already in the elevator. But I saw that it stopped on the fourth floor, and when I followed him up, I thought I saw him going into a closet.”
Holy shit. The fourth-floor closet where Chase kept all the old equipment? Was it really going to be this easy?
Miranda grabbed my hand. “I tried to watch for him to leave, but my boss called me into his office and spent the next hour breathing down my neck about a project. I’m sorry, Sabrina. I’m not sure if he’s still here. But I had to call you.” Her fingers squeezed tight enough to pinch. “My lunch is over. I have to go back now.”
“Okay.” My tight smile pulled my cheeks, but Miranda didn’t seem to notice the unease rushing through me with every heartbeat.
Keith kicked his legs back and forth. “What’s on the fourth floor?”
“Security.” I tucked his backpack strap over his shoulder before it slid off. “I need to make a call.”
Miranda stood and eyed me with a strange look. “Be careful. I don’t want to see you get hurt.”
“I’m not the one potentially stealing from a major corporation.” My laugh scraped my throat as I took in the full implication of her words. “Wait. You think we’re working together? Miranda, I would never.”
“People do strange things.” She scooped up her coffee cup and turned away. “I’m not judging you. Just saying you should be careful.”
If even my best friend didn’t believe in my innocence, why in the world did I think that Russell would? I chewed on my inner cheek and considered my options. The way I saw it, I didn’t have a choice. Russell was my best option, and I wasn’t about to ruin everything by trying to confront my half brother alone.
Keith watched me, worry clouding his eyes, as I tapped Russell’s name on my phone and held it to my ear.
He answered on the first ring. “Sabrina. I was going to call you in a few hours.”
“There’s a potential problem at Grady.” I rushed ahead before he cut me off. “Miranda noticed some suspicious activity and called me. I’m here now, in the coffee lounge.” Throat tight, I gulped air and kept going. “I think one of my half brothers has gotten into the storage room on the fourth floor. Can you come? I don’t want to confront him by myself, and if you’re not there, no one will believe that I’m innocent in all this.” Please believe me. Please. Please. My heart threatened to leave my body as I waited in tense silence.
The line remained quiet. So quiet even his breaths were lost in the silence. I pressed my thumb and forefinger into the bridge of my nose, my eyes falling closed.
“It’s okay, Mom. I believe you.” Keith’s little voice sparked a burst of protective instinct that forced my eyes open to meet his.
I knew it was a long shot for anyone to believe me, even Russell, especially considering what I’d just told him. But to have Keith’s complete confidence bolstered me. “Russell, please. You have no reason to trust me, but I’m not the bad guy. Hurting you …” I sniffed back the tears. Damn pregnancy hormones had me all kinds of emotional. “I’m the perfect scapegoat for this. I get that. It would be easy to believe that everything I’ve said is a lie. Trust is hard, but I promise I would never lie to you.”
“Not outright,” he breathed into the phone. “But you are good at withholding information.”
“Yes. I am.” And I still had one major secret left to reveal, one that I’d never admit to over the phone. “Will you come?”
“I’ll be there soon. There’s something I need to take care of first.” The dark notes I’d heard in his voice earlier lightened. “Stay in the office until I call you back. I’m going through the tunnel, so I’ll probably lose you.”
The call dropped with a crackle of static.
Warmth bloomed in my chest. He might not believe me, but he was coming here to check out my story.
“Can we go to the fourth floor now?” Keith finished his hot chocolate and licked his lips.
Miranda hurried our way, her face drawn tight. “Come on. I convinced my boss I needed something from storage. Let’s go see if he’s still there.”
“Markus. It has to be Markus.” Rising, I took Keith’s hand and followed Miranda to the elevators. Russell told me to stay in the office. He’d failed to specify which part of the office. Facing Markus alone was out of the question, but Miranda needed to see for herself that I had no part in this scheme, and her opinion mattered. Russell would trust her to tell the truth, even though she was my best friend. God, I hoped I had it right and wasn’t about to get myself in even more trouble.
Keith kept pace with me to the elevator, his excitement at a new adventure sending him rushing ahead to jab the button. “Bad guys better look out. We’re gonna get ‘em.” Pure glee brightened his eyes. “Even if it is Uncle Markus.” The light dimmed and he scowled. “Stealing is bad.”
“Yes, it is.” I ushered him into the elevator ahead of me and waited for him to press the button. Miranda knotted her hands together at her waist. “Should we record this or something?”
“Maybe.” Honestly, I had no idea what we should do. “Or we could wait for Russell to get here.”
“No way.” Keith waved both hands at me. “I’m not letting Uncle Markus steal from Mr. Russell. We have to catch him. Here.” He yanked my phone from my pocket and opened the camera app. “I’ll make a video to show Mr. Russell. He’ll have to believe you’re innocent then.”
My sweet, sweet boy. He should not have to worry about things like this. Eight-year-old boys should be playing ball and talking about their favorite movies. Not sneaking around a multi-million dollar business trying to catch their uncle stealing tech and proving their mother’s innocence. If I was a better mother, I would have found a way to do this without putting Keith in this position. But we were here now, and Keith barreled ahead the instant the elevator doors opened. “Is it this way?”
“Down here.” I turned on my heel and marched toward the storage closet. The door opened with a quick turn, and I almost fell into the room in surprise. “This door is supposed to be locked.”
We stepped into the dimness, Keith clattering behind me when he kicked a box and sent it skidding over the concrete floor.
I flicked on the light and peered around the space. Everything looked the same at first glance, but I’d only been in here for an hour or so last time, and most of that time was spent having sex. The memory heated my body to an uncomfortable temperature, and I swiped a hand over my forehead.
Keith panned the camera around the room, then squinted. “That computer is on.” He ran for the back corner before I could stop him. “Look. Someone has been in here.” He jiggled the mouse until the lock screen popped up.
“It’s password protected, Keith.” I turned my attention to the rest of the room. “He’s not here.”
“Maybe I was wrong.” Miranda groaned and covered her face with both hands. “I’ll lose my job for this. But I swear it looked just like him.”
“I’m in,” Keith shouted. His fists pumped the air. “Look, I did it.” He aimed the camera at me, then back at the computer screen.
Miranda and I both rushed to his side. My breath hitched. “How did you do that?” I’d tried multiple times before with no luck. Of course, I hadn’t known then that the culprit was Markus.
Keith shrugged. “I tried his password. He gave it to me last month when we visited Grandpa Leon for dinner and I wanted to play a game on his laptop.”
Fucking hell. My half brother was behind it after all.