27. Sebastian
Chapter twenty-seven
Sebastian
I ris is here. A sense of relief washes over me. When Reggie said she was white with shock when he handed over her box of possessions, my sense of worry deepened. Especially because she wasn’t picking up her phone. I don’t like to think of her crying alone somewhere.
But she looks okay, if a little pale.
Those dirtbags. How dare they accuse Iris?
It takes me forever to cross the café and reach Iris. She meets me halfway.
“Are you okay?” I ask, gripping her arms. She feels frail—and wet.
“I’m okay,” she says.
“We need to talk. Is there somewhere we can talk?”
“What’s happening?” Lily comes up.
“Is something wrong?” Bella joins us.
“It’s okay.” Iris waves her hand dismissively. “It’s something at work. Sebastian, let’s talk outside.” Iris gestures for me to follow her out the back door into the garden.
The backyard space has clearly been packed up for the winter, one iron table with two chairs abandoned in the bare trees.
Why didn’t she return my calls? Why didn’t she call me? I would have called her first thing. Her back is still to me.
Dead, brown plants wither in pots around the edge of the garden.
She straightens her back and turns.
That one move undoes me. It’s as if she’s facing a firing squad. Doesn’t she know I’m on her side?
I take her hand.
“Haven’t you seen my calls? I can’t believe they’re accusing you of being the hacker,” I say.
It seems as if her shoulders drop—as if she relaxes. She looks up at me, her eyes swimming in tears.
“Why didn’t you return my calls?” I take off my coat and wrap her in it, pulling her into my arms. She clings to me and rests her head against my shoulder.
“I was afraid you wouldn’t believe I wasn’t the hacker. I don’t know how they can accuse me. But Xavier seems to believe Colby. And then I was escorted out—” her voice breaks “—like I was a criminal.”
I hug her, trying to give her my strength.
“Of course I believe you,” I say. She holds me so tight. “They’re crazy. Colby is just evil, and Xavier is blinded by the fact that Colby is his brother. Do you want me to resign in protest?’
“You would resign?” She stares up at me.
“This is too unjust,” I say. “I didn’t become a lawyer to work for an immoral boss.”
She shakes her head. “You need to stay on the inside. Tessa was just talking about her case, and she reminded me about following the money. There might be a money trail. He had to have paid the hacker.”
“Unless he used his own funds—like the way Xavier used his own funds for the ice skating.”
“I know. But you know Colby. He’s all about the money, while Xavier is all about the artistic idea. Also, if a white hat hacker was paid from personal funds, that would be a red flag—for the hacker.”
“I can talk to Ernest or Aaron,” I say.
“They also said that you’d prepared the paid administrative leave agreement,” she says.
“What? I didn’t prepare a paid leave agreement for you,” I say. “You didn’t believe that, did you? That I would have prepared that and not told you?” Did she really believe that? Did Colby and Xavier do that on purpose? Did Xavier suspect that there’s something more between us?
“It would be confidential,” she says.
“Okay.” I run my hand through my hair, frustrated. “But I could have excused myself as having a conflict of interest.”
“With my taking a leave of absence?”
“I’d have to include daily massages.”
She chuckles weakly.
“I did prepare a leave of absence for someone in marketing who had a health issue,” I say. “They must have used that one.”
I look down at the top of her head.
“Is that why you didn’t call me back? Did you think I was calling you as the company lawyer?” I practically bite out the words “company lawyer.”
“You are the company lawyer,” she says.
“I’m your boyfriend first,” I say, kissing her on the forehead.
Her phone rings again.
“It’s Jazmine,” she says.
“You should pick up. She’s also worried about you.” I tug her over to the iron chair and sit down, pulling her into my lap.
“I’m okay,” she says to Jazmine. “I’m in shock, I think. It all happened so fast, and it was so…surreal.”
She rests her head against mine.
“Amelia’s probably just saying she doesn’t believe it because she knows we’re friends,” Iris says. “If anything, my being willing to climb through the window should not speak well for me.” She half-smiles, and I hug her closer, relieved to see that. “Yes, I’m still coming to your Hanukkah party. I’ve already bought my gift for the Secret Snowflake exchange.”
Tessa comes outside. “I didn’t say anything, but Iris, are you okay?”
“I’m okay—for now,” she says. “But not if my name isn’t cleared.” Her eyes are huge in her face, filled with worry and fear. “I have to find the hacker who did this.”
“I’m looking for a lawyer for you,” Tessa says. “But they might be expensive.”
“I have the money I was saving for an apartment.” Her shoulders droop. “I can’t believe Raphael isn’t calling me back.” She turns to me. “Do you think he left because he was afraid he was going to get set up for this? I want to go out to his house again.”
“Let’s go over the clues that you have,” I say. “You know he was sending you coded information, so let’s try that approach first. If we go out there and he’s abiding by this NDA, which came with a significant grant of money, he’s not going to talk to you. Otherwise, he’d return your calls.”
“You’re right. I’m off my game.” Iris turns to Tessa. “Did you tell Lily?”
“No, but you should tell them. Lily will feel terrible if she feels like you couldn’t share this,” Tessa says. “She and Rupert will be happy for many years, so it’s not like her joy is going to fade.”
We go back inside, and Iris explains to her girlfriends what happened. They’re all upset, but mostly they feel helpless because nobody knows how we can prove that it’s not Iris—other than finding the real hacker.
Iris and I soon take our leave because we’re off to decipher the clues. I pick up the box of Iris’s belongings, Zero Trust right on top.
Iris didn’t trust me. I can’t think about that now. But it hurts. She’s not as deep into this relationship as I am. And that scares me. Because I’ve been here before. With Melody. And it didn’t end well for me.