Chapter 9
nine
Andrew
My girl’s gaze darts around as I lead her from the kitchen to my office.
She only saw the family room and kitchen yesterday.
If I get the answers I expect this morning, she’ll get a full tour later after we take care of a few errands.
I can’t help smiling when I think about the tantrum she’s going to throw when I tell her my plan.
Yeah, she’s going to fight me—I can guarantee it.
After she fell asleep in my arms last night, my brain wouldn’t shut off. Not that it usually does. But instead of JNG problems, my thoughts revolved around Jaclyn and making her mine. If I have my way, and I usually do, she will be mine soon.
"Do you need to use the bathroom before we have our meeting?” I ask as we pass the first-floor powder room.
Startled, her face lifts to mine. “Bathroom? No, I’m fine. Let’s just get this over with.” After a moment, she adds, “You know I’m a grown woman, right?”
“Of course I do. That will never stop me from taking care of you.” Her mouth drops open, and her eyes squint as if she’s trying to figure me out. She won’t, but it’s adorable that she thinks she can.
“Whatever,” she mumbles.
I’m not sure how much she knows about Daddy kink, but I don’t doubt that she’ll benefit from letting me take care of her since no one else has.
While she was getting dressed this morning, I read through all the intel Adrian received from our hacker, Tristan Parker.
He and Adrian were college roommates. From what Adrian said, he tried to convince Tristan to come work for us, but he started his own white-hat cybersecurity firm—though he’s not averse to some black-hat work occasionally.
My Sweetpea had it rougher than she let on at dinner. No wonder she’s so worried about losing her job. Based on her high school records, Jaclyn’s been working toward this job her entire life, and I won’t take it from her. She can work from here just like we do.
What I hadn’t expected was for him to tell me that the Feds got tipped off and opened an investigation already.
Tristan discovered through his contacts that the FBI and Homeland Security created a taskforce to investigate JNG for possible illegal dealings.
Whoever played whistleblower implicated Jaclyn, not that I believe it.
The feds went in with a search warrant last night and cleared out her office.
This is a huge clusterfuck. But the worst part is that Jaclyn is under suspicion. I am too, but I don’t give a shit about myself as long as I can protect Jaclyn, and my family from the fallout.
When we reach my office, I push open the door, and step aside to let Jaclyn enter fist. It’s a carbon copy of my office at JNG Headquarters, but I doubt she’d know that.
Aaron and did the same; the twins and Adrian have their offices in our underground bunker.
Biometrically secured and hidden within the pantry in the kitchen, it’s more secure than Fort Knox.
Fireproof, bombproof, and stocked with enough supplies for all of us to stay inside for a year if necessary—not that we ever expect that to happen.
My parents were preppers; being internet-savvy, they probably understood more than most about the dangers the future would bring. Not that any of us believe we’ll ever hide out there, but it’s good to know we have it if needed.
“Take a seat,” I say, following her in and shutting the door. Adrian will come in when he’s ready, but he’ll text first.
Jaclyn looks around my office, then drops into a chair in front of my desk.
Instead of relaxing, she sits on the edge of the seat and clasps her hands in her lap, looking as if she’ll run at the first opportunity.
My poor girl. I know she’s worried about what’s going to happen.
I’ll try to assuage her nerves, but ultimately, it won’t be possible—not with my plan.
“Relax, you’re not in trouble, Jaclyn. This isn’t the principal’s office.” I’m trying to ease the tension, but her shoulders are practically at her ears. God knows what she’s imagining is going to happen right now.
“Can you just tell me whatever it is and let me go home?” Her voice is firm, but she can’t mask the subtle tremble of her body.
As I sit behind my large desk, I fight the urge to take the seat next to hers. I will, but not yet. First, I have to figure out what she knows, hopefully without throwing her into a full-blown panic attack.
“Of course. I want to circle back to what we spoke about yesterday. The email you sent. What prompted you to write to me? Why not just go to Snyder? Why write to me at all?”
She sucks in a huge breath and seems to deflate in her chair. Every instinct I have is telling me to pull her into my arms and hold her while we talk, but we’re not there yet. Jaclyn is stronger than she believes. I just need to prove it to her.
Her gaze meets mine, but she doesn’t look away. When I think she’s going to refuse to answer, she nods, then begins speaking.
“Honestly, I’m not sure why I emailed you.
A gut feeling, I guess. I don’t know how else to explain it.
After reading through JNG contracts for three months, it was the first one with that addendum.
Something about it felt wrong—it didn’t match with the company’s mission statement or anything I’d read about what your family stands for.
” Her shoulders relax, and she leans back in her chair as I let her continue without interrupting.
“As for why I didn’t contact Snyder. Ugh.
I don’t like talking badly about others, but he’s not the most approachable boss, not that I’ve had many.
My coworkers haven’t made it easy for me, either.
They barely acknowledge me—I’m an outsider—I didn’t graduate from an Ivy League school, I don’t have fancy connections, just a plain old law school grad, working her first job.
“The contracts hit my desk last, usually for me to proofread. Most of the time, I seriously doubt any of the other attorneys look at the contracts, dumping them on me or their paralegals instead. I wasn’t sure you’d even get the email or pay attention to it.
” Her voice trails off, and she murmurs, “I wish I’d never sent it,” though I doubt I’m supposed to hear it.
“Jaclyn, you did everything right. You found a discrepancy and contacted the person you thought could handle it best. It’s all I ask of any of my employees.
To be honest, we’ve known something was going on, but hadn’t found any traces of it.
There have been too many attempted hacks into our company servers containing our top-secret information lately; your email was our first big break. ”
Her head pops up, and her eyes grow wide. “Really? What else is going on?”
“We’ll get to that. But first I need to know, have you seen any other issues with the contracts, or is this the first one?”
“It’s actually the second one. The other one didn’t have this addendum, but the last paragraph had minor changes from the usual template.
It was signed and initialed by you, like all the others.
I went to a coworker, and he told me not to worry about it, that it happens all the time.
But I swear, in three months, it’s only been those two.
” She stops talking and looks thoughtful.
“What did you remember?” I ask. I can almost see the wheels turning in her brain. Her eyes take on a faraway look, and she sucks her bottom lip into her mouth.
“Both of them were handled by the same attorney in our office. And he assigned them to me specifically, is that weird?”
Weird? It’s much worse than that. I’m praying she doesn’t say it’s Snyder. I release the breath I’ve been holding when she says David Mercier’s name.
“Has he sent you any other contracts to review for him?” I ask.
We only hired Mercier because his grandparents were friends with our parents.
Sure, he went to Harvard, but barely skated through.
He was one of the newer attorneys I interviewed.
I didn’t like him then, but I hired him anyway.
If there is a rat in the house, I can’t blame anyone but myself.
“Only one other during the first week I was there, but they all give me stuff. Usually, I’m the last stage of review since I’m still in my probationary period.
But he brings them directly to me and tells me he needs them back the same day.
I don’t like to do that. I know they’re mostly based on templates, but I like to review the verbiage carefully.
I even found a few paragraphs that needed reworking due to the new laws enacted in the last six months.
I told David, and he said he’d take care of it. ”
I’m sure he did, the fucktard. “Why were you so afraid to tell me this yesterday, little bit?” I ask gently, as I lean forward and rest my elbows on the desk. Then I steeple my fingers beneath my chin.
“You’re going to think this is stupid.”
Smiling, I shake my head. “Try me.”
“I’ve never flown before. My roommate gave me Valium to keep me from panicking.
It knocked me out. Then there was the drive, you and your brothers, and I was totally overwhelmed.
I felt like you were interrogating me, and I couldn’t imagine what I’d done that was so bad.
I mean, it was just an email.” Her voice drops off, and she turns her head to look out the window.
“Baby, you did everything right. Your email sent off red flags, and I’m sorry you were frightened. But I’m not sorry you’re here,” I say, sitting next to her and lifting her onto my lap.
Jaclyn stiffens in my arms, but I don’t release her. I won’t. Pulling her closer, I settle back with my chin on her head and hold her until her breathing calms and she relaxes against me.
My phone vibrates, where I left it on my desk when I came in. Leaning forward, I grab it and see Adrian’s name.
Adrian: I’ve got everything together. Just need whatever else you found out.
Me: Good. C’mon in. I think we found our rat.