Chapter 17
Chapter Seventeen
Aurora woke early in the morning, determined to keep herself busy. When she got to the living room, Devon was already up, reading some kind of sports magazine from Chase’s coffee table.
“Want eggs?” He didn’t look up. “They’re on the stove.”
So, they were pretending that last night didn’t happen, apparently.
She went to the kitchen and served herself breakfast. Eggs, toast, jam. Aurora sat at the table to eat. Devon tossed down his magazine and disappeared into the bedroom. She heard him breathing rapidly. He was doing push-ups. But he’d gone where she couldn’t see him.
Was he avoiding her?
Devon had touched her last night. She hadn’t forced him to do it. But to be fair, she’d started it. She really hadn’t intended to get so hot and bothered. Around Devon, her body had a mind of its own.
It made no sense. Finance guys didn’t usually do it for her, and military men certainly didn’t. Such alpha men had a tendency to tell everyone else what to do. That wasn’t her thing, in or out of the bedroom.
But this man turned off her rational brain and turned on…everything else. It’s because of the stress of all this, she thought. Some kind of biological imperative to mate with the man most likely to keep you alive.
It would fade. At least, she hoped this urge would fade.
She’d thought she wanted him when he was Rick Harrison. But Devon Whitestone wasn’t just a sexy guy next door. He was kind, thoughtful, smart… Infuriatingly honorable. He was the strongest person she’d ever known, not just physically but mentally, too.
A knocking sound came from behind her. She jumped up from the table.
There was a shadow visible through the shade hanging over the back door. Someone was there.
“Devon!”
He came in, sweat shining on his face from his workout. “Shit,” he muttered. He grabbed for the gun that he’d hidden in the kitchen cabinet.
“Hide. Get ready to run if we need to.”
Fear ran through her like electricity. Not again, she thought. Aurora dashed into the living room, crouching down behind a tall bookcase.
She could just barely see Devon. He crept toward the back door, his gun at the ready. The knocking continued, speeding up. Then slowing down again. It was strange.
Devon dropped the gun to his side, straightening. “It’s Morse code.” Without warning, he crossed to the back door, unlocked it, and threw it wide.
“You nearly gave me a heart attack,” he said to the person outside.
“Ha,” a female voice responded. “I don’t believe that for a second. You haven’t had an elevated heart rate since the first time you put your hand under a girl’s shirt. Which was, what—a few weeks ago?”
“Very funny. Get in here.” Devon shut the door. The lock clicked back into place.
Aurora emerged from the living room. A petite woman stood in the kitchen. Her strawberry-blond hair was trimmed into a blunt bob, and she wore chunky pink plastic glasses. She smiled and waved.
“Aurora, this is Sylvie Trousseau. Sylvie, Aurora Bennett.”
Sylvie stuck out her hand. “I’ve been dying to meet you! Max talks about you all the time. I just wish we were meeting under different circumstances. How are you doing?”
So this woman knew everything that was going on. And she knew Max.
“Sylvie works at Bennett Security with me. She’s our lead data analyst and computer expert. But what are you doing here, Sylv? I thought it wasn’t safe yet for Max to send anyone.”
“Don’t worry, I followed all the protocols to lose any possible trails. I got here clean.”
“Are you here to take me to a safe house?” Aurora wasn’t sure if she wanted the answer to be yes or no.
“Not yet, I’m afraid. And Max wouldn’t send me.
” Sylvie set her large tote bag in the kitchen and started unpacking it.
“I was in charge of the remote team watching Aurora’s building.
That was a shit show. We had an attack on our system, which cut you off from us.
I’m really sorry about that. Your brother’s keeping the details of your situation to a very limited group, for obvious reasons. ”
She brought out a laptop computer, opened the lid, and waited for it to boot up.
“So, he’s still not sure if someone inside Bennett hacked our system?” Devon asked.
“I’ve been up most of the night, trying to get to the bottom of it.
Max is livid. He sent the other two members of our team home, pending my investigation.
Someone definitely tried a brute-force attack, and it looks like it came from the outside.
But I don’t think they reached anything sensitive. It wasn’t all that effective.”
Devon grinned, crossing his arms over his ample pecs. “And that’s how Bennett knew that you couldn’t be involved?”
“Damn straight. Because he knows if I’d set up the hack on our system, nobody would have even realized anything was wrong. I’m way too smooth.” She leaned over to type a password into the laptop.
“But you could have done a sloppy job on purpose,” Aurora pointed out. “As a misdirection.”
Sylvie’s eyebrows lifted. “Damn, Whitestone, you’d better watch out for this one. She’s one sneaky lady.”
“You have no idea.”
Laughing, Sylvie said, “You make a good point, Aurora. Luckily, Max knows me well enough to trust that I’d never put anyone he loves in jeopardy. No matter what.”
There was so much about her brother’s life that was foreign to Aurora.
For all her years in St. Louis, Max had downplayed his business ambitions to her.
She hadn’t even realized his true level of success until returning to West Oaks.
And then, once she was back, she’d let old resentments keep her distant.
She’d met a few of his army buddies who worked for him now.
But Aurora had only visited the Bennett Security office once, right after she moved here.
Maybe, if she’d made a point to understand her brother’s company, she’d have met Sylvie or Devon before.
Maybe she wouldn’t have been so resistant to the whole bodyguard idea in the first place.
“Anyway,” Sylvie went on, “I’m pretty sure the disruption of security at Aurora’s building was a separate operation.
More localized. But it was all coordinated.
Stage an attempt on our main office databases as a distraction.
Then go after the real target—Aurora herself.
Your building’s alarm system is designed to fight back when it detects interference.
The bad guys probably got a glimpse of our camera feeds, which caused the cameras to reboot exactly as those men breached the building. ”
“Which is why the cameras went off,” Devon said.
“And someone took out the police officers guarding the exits,” Aurora remembered. “Do you know yet if they’re all right?”
“Just knocked out, thank heaven,” Sylvie said.
“Good. But that happened right before they came after me on the terrace. Because they saw me go up there on the camera before it switched off?”
Sylvie grimaced. “It’s a big loophole in our security, and I’m pissed we didn’t see this weakness before. You can bet I’m going to be writing a patch on that a.s.a.p. But this plan was sophisticated. It took a lot of people and a lot of money.”
Aurora felt a shiver go down her spine. “Dominic Crane. And the Silverlake Syndicate.”
Sylvie opened up various windows on the laptop, typing what Aurora guessed was code.
“That’s right. But the Syndicate had help.
Someone told them your identity, Aurora, and where to find you.
And how to circumvent our security. It had to either be someone inside our company—which I’m really starting to doubt—or it came from the government side.
West Oaks PD or the District Attorney’s Office. ”
It couldn’t have been Lana. But how well did Lana know her boss, the DA? And if the leak truly came from the police—
Aurora’s legs were like jelly. She had to sit down. “Could they find us here? Chase is West Oaks PD.”
“Chase wouldn’t tell anyone,” Devon said. “There’s no way.”
Sylvie agreed. “We’re keeping tabs on him, discreetly, just in case. It’s possible the Syndicate has learned Devon’s identity by now.”
“I was afraid of that, and that’s why I told Chase to get my mom and sister to a safe location.”
“Exactly, we know. We’re taking good care of them,” Sylvie said.
“The only worry is that someone could make the connection between Chase and Devon, given their friendship, but that’s less likely.
Devon’s only lived in West Oaks a few months.
And Chase’s name isn’t officially on the title for this house since it’s a sub-let from his cousin. ”
Aurora breathed out, trying to relax. “So, what do we do?”
“Stay hidden. Everyone knows you’re the witness now because it’s public knowledge. But nobody except a handful of people knows where to find you. I’m going to help make sure it stays that way. Which is why I’ve come bearing gifts.”
She turned the laptop toward Aurora. “Ta-da. This is for you. A completely secure terminal with its own internet hotspot and VPN—that’s a virtual private network—to mask your whereabouts. You can communicate with your contacts, but nobody can trace you.”
Devon leaned a hand on the table, looking over Aurora’s shoulder. “Nice. This is perfect, Sylv.”
“Don’t worry, I brought one for you, too. So, you can reach Max and your family, and nobody has to take turns.” She elbowed him affectionately in the side, and Aurora felt a twinge of annoyance. Exactly how well did they know each other?
“But don’t think you can start binging Netflix and playing video games. Max wants to go on the offensive.”
“How?” Aurora asked eagerly.
“I’ll tell you all about it. But first, let me set up Devon’s machine. I’m guessing you’ll want to take a minute to check your email and your social accounts, Aurora? If it were me, I’d be dying to.”