28AshDecember 28
Ash
“Ash!” The door to his office popped open, and Ash looked up as Romeo and Mel tried to jam themselves through the doorway simultaneously.
“Don’t hit accept on that invite I just sent you!
” barked Romeo, pointing an accusing finger at Ash.
Romeo wore a cosplay level of preppy wear, including a white sweater with a faux varsity letter.
Ash blinked in surprise at both the tone and the outfit.
Romeo usually trended toward Goth. It was one of the reasons he and Mel got along. They shared a base DNA strand of emo.
“Uh, OK,” said Ash, trying to subtly close out his Sim game that he was wasting too much time on. “I hadn’t actually opened it yet.”
“Romeo figured out what was wrong with the calendar,” said Mel, coming around the desk to grab control of Ash’s mouse and keyboard.
“I asked a question,” said Romeo. “You solved it. I just thought I was starting to go totally delulu.”
“Well, I thought maybe it was on Harper’s end,” said Ash, “but I watched her hit accept on her invites.”
“Only later, they mysteriously got canceled, right?” asked Romeo.
Ash nodded in surprise as Mel furiously opened panels and began changing settings.
“Yeah. That is... because Romeo... deleted her from the invites.” Mel paused between words like they always did when they were thinking about something else while talking.
“Uh, what?” asked Ash.
“Only it wasn’t me,” said Romeo, with a mad grin.
“One or more of us is confused,” said Ash. “Also, why are you dressed like you’re a closing sale for Abercrombie & Fitch?”
Mel snickered, and Romeo glared at both of them.
“I’m meeting that citizenship lawyer after work.”
“Oh, great!” exclaimed Ash. “You are billing that to me, right?”
“I’m not sure,” said Romeo, glancing nervously at Mel.
“He’s serious,” said Mel without looking up. “Stop freaking. Track it and put it on the work account. Gary will figure out how to code it later.”
“I feel weird about it,” said Romeo. “I know a lot of people who can’t afford to even start the process, and having you pay for it makes me feel some kind of way.”
“Well, I feel some kind of way about the idea that you could be deported, and then my entire life would fall apart,” said Ash.
“Maybe I can do some sort of annual citizenship scholarship thing. You’re my first recipient.
Congratulations, Dreamer, you can now afford to talk to a professional who will guide you through the miles of paperwork that are about to become your life. ”
“Paperwork is my bitch,” said Romeo. “Fifty-year-old white bros in MAGA hats scare the shit out of me, but I can fill out forms in triplicate all day long.”
Mel grunted in agreement.
“Do I want to know what you’re doing to my computer?” asked Ash, as he realized that Mel had been typing a long time for what he assumed was a calendar glitch.
“When the office got broken into,” said Mel, “someone accessed the front desk computer. I think they logged in and then smashed the computer, hoping we wouldn’t notice.”
“But you said the computer didn’t have access to anything, but the…” Ash trailed off.
“The office calendar,” finished Romeo.
“They changed the recovery account on the front desk email,” said Mel. “They’ve been accessing the calendar from their end and deleting Harper off the invites.”
“But why…” Ash trailed off again, realizing that the answer was staring him in the face. “It was Emma. She’s been showing up at events that I’m at. I thought it was just a coincidence.”
“I can’t prove that yet,” said Mel, typing into a black screen with a string of gibberish. “But the next time she logs in, I can pinpoint her location. At the moment, I’m trying to confirm that she hasn’t been able to infiltrate further.”
“Well, what do we do?”
“The easy answer is to set up a new master account and calendar,” said Romeo. “But I have the feeling Mel probably has other thoughts.”
“Yeah, sure, we can do that, but for the next little bit, I think we should continue to use the calendar so she doesn’t know we’re onto her. I’m just putting some precautions in place to ensure she can’t access the work server.”
“What about my home computer?”
“I’m going to have you head home and log on, and then I’ll take over from here and run—” Mel cut off and looked at Ash. “I’m going to do some stuff. It’s going to be great.”
Ash chuckled. “Got it. You’re going to work your magic, and I’m going to be grateful you’re on my side. All right, well, let’s not waste any time.”
Ash stood up and grabbed his jacket from the back of his chair.
“I’ll call you when I get home. You can walk me through whatever you need me to do.”
He texted Harper on the drive. Each new thought caused him to pop off a new text.
Mel and Romeo figured out the problem with the calendar.
Don’t accept anything until we tell you to.
Long story short: it’s Emma. I’ll explain more when you get home.
He was relieved to have an explanation but embarrassed that he would have to tell Harper what an idiot he’d been.
The memory of picking up the iPad and discovering all of Emma’s text messages still sent a hot wave of embarrassment across his chest. It was even worse than being cheated on.
Emma had never moved in, but she moved through his life with ease.
“A friend of mine wanted some information about one of your projects. I sent it to him. That’s all. You know you always say to give anyone a prospectus.”
She’d tossed off the line so smoothly.
“This is not a prospectus, Emma! This is proprietary research!”
“Well… oops! I’m sure he won’t tell anyone. Anselm is very trustworthy.”
“Emma, that research could only have come from my computer. You took documents off my computer.”
“Just a few. It’s not that big of a deal.”
Her dismissive attitude had been a bigger shock than her betrayal.
“Emma, who is Anselm? Who does he work for?”
“He’s a friend of my father’s. I’ve known him for ages. It was just the one time.”
The lie was so blatant.
“The iCloud storage has been linked to your phone since I bought it for you,” said Ash. “All of your texts are on this iPad.”
Emma had gone pale, and somehow, that was more confirmation than the texts themselves.
“There are at least sixteen individuals in here that you’ve sent documents too. And they have all sent you money. Emma, that is fucking industrial espionage if it’s not outright espionage because I’m pretty sure some of these are foreign operatives. Emma, what the hell have you been doing?”
“Nothing! I just help people get some information if they’re interested. It’s fine. I promise there’s nothing wrong with it.”
“Nothing… Emma! I promise my partners that their information is safe, and you’re stealing it! It’s illegal, it’s dishonest, and if anyone finds out, I will be through!”
“Then let’s not let anyone find out!”
It wasn’t just the words. It was the smile and the pat on his shoulder as she tried to brush by him. Every soft emotion he’d ever felt toward her evaporated in one poof of white-hot rage. He’d hoped she had some sort of explanation or legitimate excuse. But there was nothing.
“Give me your phone and your key,” he said, grabbing her arm and stopping her from going further into his space. She pulled free angrily.
“What?”
“Your phone and the key to my house. I’ve already called the office. You are no longer allowed in the building. I’ve got Mel doing a complete sweep of my computer right now. Give me the damn key.”
He’d been impressed by how swiftly Mel had acted to lock Emma out of everything.
And by how easily the auxiliary people in his life had followed suit.
He’d never tried to flex his social muscles like that, but getting Emma away from him had been imperative.
Romeo’s soft-voiced phone calls to anyone who’d been used to giving Emma whatever she wanted on Ash’s tab had worked more swiftly than any public announcement.
Everyone had fallen into line with barely a blink, but getting her out of his life had kept him on edge for months.
Until Harper.
Harper never asked for anything. Emma had always just given him a cute little pout and asked for something, and then, at some point, she’d point blank asked for a credit card to make things easier.
He’d said yes. He’d always said yes. Meanwhile, Harper had spent weeks trying to figure out how to afford flying home at Christmas.
And then feeling bad about being happy that she couldn’t.
Ash had been torn between buying her a ticket and letting her be happy to be stuck in Seattle.
Who was he kidding? He had been elated. He wanted her to stay in Seattle and never see Cooper Martin again.
From reading between the lines, Ash thought Cooper had been happily letting Harper slave away, organizing his life and taking the blame for all of his shitty decisions, all while continuing to degrade her self-esteem in a way that was borderline abusive.
Harper still hadn’t texted back by the time he was on his way up to his condo.
He glanced at his text again and felt a flutter of nerves.
He’d said home. He’d automatically assumed she would come over to his place after work.
They had been doing that a lot lately, but he didn’t think they had explicitly said it today. What if she thought that was weird?
Ash shook his head. Harper already knew he was weird and didn’t care. No, the people who were going to think he was an idiot were his brothers.
Once inside, he flipped on his computer and logged into the work server, following Mel’s instructions on the office Slack channel. Within a few minutes, Mel was driving his computer remotely, and Ash was free to roam about his house.