Chapter 9
ALEX
Alex’s thumb tapped the space bar as his other hand curled into a fist, desperately searching his security footage for any clue about the attempted break-in only a few hours ago. He froze the footage, running it back in slow motion over and over, trying to glean any detail that could help.
The hooded figure never showed their face to the camera, wore gloves, and had no distinguishing features on the dark clothing covering almost every inch of their skin.
With a disgusted sigh, he checked a few other cameras, but none of them caught anything.
He shoved the laptop away, his fingers tapping out a frantic rhythm on the kitchen countertop where he worked.
Warm hands slid around his shoulders, rubbing his muscles. “Nothing?”
The smooth sound of his wife’s voice was a balm for his frayed nerves. “No, nothing.”
He hated that he couldn’t be of more use. She’d tried to chase down the person last night while he’d struggled to retrieve and load the gun he kept in his safe. He normally didn’t care about not being able to physically safeguard himself and Ava, but lately, he’d been digitally kneecapped.
He’d normally be able to protect her from harm using his incredible hacking skills, but this time, he’d hit a dead end at every turn.
The hands lifted from him as he stared at the image frozen on his screen. A few seconds later, a cup of coffee hovered in front of him.
He grabbed it, letting the warm porcelain of the mug heat his fingers as he glanced at Ava with a smile. “Thanks, Avs.”
She sipped her own coffee, a smile playing on her lips. “Run the video again. We’ll go over everything together.”
The words warmed him as much as the hot liquid. When she’d asked for a divorce, he’d worried they’d lost their connection. But as they worked through the issues at StoneCorp, it seemed like they were as strong as they’d been in the past.
He couldn’t reconcile it with the idea that they’d soon be divorced, and she’d marry another man. After another sip of his coffee, he set the mug aside and tugged the laptop closer, hunching over it.
Right now, they needed to concentrate on the matter at hand. He hoped their connection during the investigation would give her enough pause to stop moving forward with her plans.
Their near-kiss was proof that they had a chance. He clung to that as he pressed the play button, inching the video forward.
Ava leaned closer, wrapping an arm around him and resting her coffee mug on his shoulder. “No shots of their face or anything identifiable? Like a tattoo or something?”
“No, this joker’s wearing head-to-toe black, gloves, hood pulled over their face the entire time. I’ve got nothing on the other cameras. They were careful.”
“They are definitely avoiding the cameras, which makes me wonder how well they know this place.”
“Well, they didn’t override the security system, so they had no tech support.”
She rubbed his shoulder with a hand. “Or at least no tech support good enough to override your custom code.”
He shot her a sideways glance, pleased that she’d recalled his modifications to his security system. No, his mind corrected, their security system. He had to think positively. They were married, and it was going to stay that way if he could help it.
“Play at normal speed,” she requested, taking another sip of her coffee.
She wrapped her fingers around the off-white mug bearing the name Sparky. The clink of the rings he gave her reminded him that they weren’t over yet as he rewound the video and let it play.
“Again,” she said, setting the mug on the counter and pressing closer to him.
He replayed the video twice more at her request. “What are you seeing, Sparky?”
“Just trying to gauge how this person moves. If I had to guess, based on height, build, and movement, this is a woman.”
Alex played the video again. “You may have a point, but to play devil’s advocate, this could be a male moving cautiously. And we don’t have any…physical characteristics to confirm this. Curves, long hair.”
“We’d never be able to tell under that hoodie,” she answered. “But…look at the grace when she hurries. It’s not heavy.”
“Maybe he is a light-footed male. Your gendering is all just supposition.”
She sipped the coffee again. “Yes, it is. But we have to start somewhere. Have you tapped the CCTV yet or any of your neighbor’s security cams?”
“Not yet,” he answered as she crossed the kitchen to refill her coffee.
She arched an eyebrow as she shot a glance at him over her shoulder. “Really? You not up to the task?”
The playful grin combined with her baby pink velvet sweatsuit took him right back to their college days.
“I’m on it, Sparky. I just figured I’d wait for you to be here so I could dazzle you with my tech skills.”
She cupped the mug between her hands as she leaned across the marble countertop toward him. “Dazzle away, Ace.”
He offered her a confident grin before his fingers flew across the keyboard, tapping out a familiar rhythm as he accessed the city’s CCTV cameras and searched for any footage from cameras near them.
“Oh, got something.”
She circled the counter and joined him again.
He shifted the display away from her. “Wait a second…are you dazzled?”
The sound of her laugh lifted his spirits. “Ace, I am always dazzled by you.”
The kiss she planted on his cheek stunned him into silence for a second before he twisted back to his laptop, sure color was rising into his pale cheeks.
“Good, you should be,” he shot back as a cover before he played the footage.
“This has to be our…gal,” Alex said as a dark-clad figure raced onto the screen and climbed into a car almost off camera.
“Any other angles on that car?”
He tugged a corner of his lips back, shaking his head. “No. Although, I can try to track it through the city’s CCTV, but it’s going to take a while.”
“You need more coffee?”
He tapped at the keys, hoping to find a better image of the car as it traveled through the streets.
A nice clear shot of the license plate would be all he needed to crack this case.
“Yeah, and why don’t we move this little party up to the office?
You can take a look at those names on the list we came up with last night. ”
“Oh,” she said with a pucker of her lips as she filled his mug, “someone’s bossy today.”
He grinned at her, about to answer when her phone rang. She tugged it from her pocket and swiped to answer it. “Hey, hon. How’d the presentation go?”
His heart sank at the words. Their morning had been going so well.
She returned the coffee pot to the maker as she answered. “Well, I called just before but you must have been…yeah, yeah…Yes, I know. Well, I know but…”
With her back toward him, he couldn’t read her features, but he had known her long enough to read her subtle body language. She was stressed…again.
The slump of her shoulders and the tension in her muscles told him she was listening to something she didn’t want to hear.
“I’m sorry, Chris. I just…no, of course not. No, I didn’t. Look, I’m dealing with a lot of things right now, and I lost track of time.”
It was interesting how she hadn’t told him the truth about what was going on between them. It seemed she hadn’t even admitted how close they were.
“I’m not…I’m…Let’s just plan on dinner Monday when I’m home, and we’ll talk about everything, okay?” The tightness in her voice betrayed the continued tension.
The words sliced at him like a knife through his heart.
“Yeah, absolutely. I just don’t want to discuss everything over the phone…Right. Okay. I’m sorry I didn’t catch you this morning…Good. Well, enjoy the rest of the conference. Okay, I love you, too.”
The words deflated him again, and he found himself trapped in a tumult of emotions.
He wanted to be happy for his friend, but the shortened timeline, and the constant admissions of love to Chris, it all hit him like a physical blow, chipping away at any confidence he had in their relationship.
The thought of her with him, of her saying those three words he longed to hear, twisted in his chest like a knife.
The smile he forced on his face, hiding the storm of longing and unspoken desire beneath his surface, as she shoved the phone into her pocket and spun to face him. “Everything okay with the Grid Guru?”
She sucked in a breath and made a face. “Yeah.”
He collected his mug and his laptop as he stood. “Everything okay with you?”
“Yeah, I’m good,” she said with a confused smile.
“You just…sounded a little stressed, is all.”
She avoided his gaze.
“Avs, are you sure–”
“I’m fine, Alex. It’s fine. Chris is just…a little off ever since I told him I was married. It’s just going to take us a little bit to get through this, but we’re working through it. We’re fine.”
They climbed the stairs toward the second floor. “Hey, um, not to be a pain but…there is a very real possibility that you won’t be home Monday.”
“Yeah, I know. I just…didn’t want to tell him that yet. Let the rest of this sink in.”
“Do you often have to break things to him in stages?” Alex asked as they entered the office.
She shot him a warning glance as he plopped his laptop on his desk.
“Just asking, Avs.”
“I think it’s reasonable that he’s still feeling some shock over this entire situation. But that doesn’t mean that I’m going to ditch you, okay? I’m staying until we’ve settled this.” She set her coffee cup on her desk and winked at him. “You need me.”
“I do,” he said, a genuine smile crossing his features.
“I know. You bought that gun, but you can’t load it. So, I have to stay to protect you.”
“I definitely need protection, Ava Collins style.” He shot her another grin before he waved his fingers at her. “Now, grab your laptop, and let’s get to work.”
“There you go being bossy again, Ace,” she answered as she crossed to the door.
“Well, I am the CEO of a billion-dollar company,” he called after her.