Chapter 30
Kolton
Vinny Leonetti was the reason I had my job at Bridgewater Security. Less than an hour after posting my résumé online, I’d been contacted by him. He asked if I was interested in security, and while I hadn’t given it a thought before then, I couldn’t stop thinking of it after he mentioned it.
What better way to help people without having to deal with blood and needles and bodily fluids?
Within days, I’d messaged him back asking for more information. Within a week, I’d gone through three separate interviews with him and Lee. Not long after, I worked up the courage to stand up to my sister, dropped out of nursing school, and started my new career.
Vinny wasn’t just some recruiter, though. He had mad computer skills and a group of hacker friends that made me think twice about ever posting anything online. And those skills were exactly what I needed to get to the bottom of this thing with Sloane.
“Where did you get this?” Vinny looked at me over the top of his monitor in the Bridgewater Command Center—the name we’d lovingly given the auditorium-like room at the end of the long hall. The glow from his monitor made the bags under his eyes look as black as the massive screen behind me.
I looked across the room, to where Sloane sat with my friends, before I answered. “I may have done some of my own sleuthing over the years.”
“Your own—” Vinny glanced behind him. My boss stood with his hands tucked into his armpits while he glared at the computer screen. “Can you believe this guy?”
Lee shrugged. “Told you he’s obsessed.”
There was no way I could argue that. The thing holding his attention was a signed copy of the contract Sloane had with Calvin Hobson prior to her leaving him and signing with Monica Greer.
It had taken years of looking to even find someone who had seen it, and more money than I cared to think about to actually get said person to send me a picture of each page.
It had Sloane’s signature on it. But more than that, it was a chance to put my suspicions about Calvin Hobson and Beckett Giles to rest.
Of course, the contents of the contract did no such thing. They only confirmed that both men were pieces of shit.
As evidenced by the pile of GeoDots Van, Drea, and Ethan had collected from Sloane’s purses and bags back at her condo.
“And you think this,” Vinny said, gesturing to his screen before pointing at the Dots, “is proof that they planted these to track Sloane?”
I shook my head. “Not proof. That’s what I need you for.”
Vinny brushed his hair out of his face and, for a moment, the bags under his eyes faded as he smiled. “Consider it done.”
He took up his normal position—head down, hands on his keyboard, eyes glued to his screen. I shifted away at the same time Lee did. We both stopped, then he gestured with his chin for me to take a seat.
Once my boss was settled across from me, he folded his hands. “You read the whole thing?”
“The contract?” My gaze darted to Sloane before I looked back. “Yeah, I’ve read it.”
More like, I’d memorized the whole damn thing.
“Is it as bad as I think?”
“Probably worse.” My hands balled into fists. “Calvin took advantage of her. His cut of her income exceeded legal limits, and he was illegally negotiating contracts for her. There was also a clause stating a portion of her earnings had to go to Beckett, and that was on top of his own cut.”
“He lost big when she dumped him.”
“They both did.”
Lee nodded, falling silent before turning his attention to what Vinny was doing on his screens. I let my gaze drift back to Sloane. To the curve of her hips. To the long length of her dark brown hair.
I couldn’t lose her.
Loving Sloane came as naturally to me as breathing. I would do anything to protect her, to keep her safe. I would do anything to keep her. To keep on loving her. Anything for the chance that she might keep on loving me too.
I knew being with her was wrong. I was her bodyguard; she was my client.
But this thing between us?
It was better than anything I’d ever experienced in my life. And while it may have sounded like some line out of my sisters’ cheesy romance movies, if loving Sloane was wrong, then I didn’t want to be right.
Sloane peeked over her shoulder at me, and the smile on her face, the look in her eyes, made my heart thud hard before skipping a beat. I felt like I was soaring, and I never wanted to come down.
“Kolton!” Lee’s deep voice jolted me out of a stupor, and I spun to find him. He was standing behind Vinny again, the two of them staring at me like I’d lost my head.
“Yeah boss?”
“Get over here.”
Scrambling from my chair, I rushed to his side. “You have something already?”
Lee pointed at the monitor and Vinny turned around to face it once more. “Think you were right.”
As I leaned closer to the screen, Vinny started typing again before he paused and started talking.
“Each GeoDot has its own unique tracking number. It’s what enables the Dots to work.
You sync them with your device, and it allows you to track them as long as there’s still a battery charge in the Dot.
These Dots here,” Vinny said, dragging four of the small circles to the edge of the table, “no longer have a charge.”
“How long does a battery usually last?”
Vinny’s lips twitched before he reached for another, larger pile of Dots. “About a year, depending on how active the GeoDot is. After that, they’re basically worthless unless you change the battery. All of these have had their batteries replaced at some point in the past six or seven months.”
“What about those?”
He put his hand over the Dots closest to him. “These are all new. Purchased and put into use less than five months ago.”
I glanced back over my shoulder. Sloane was laughing, head thrown back while her fingers swept across her throat. My chest pinched while my fingers tingled, wanting to touch her.
Turning back to Vinny, I said, “That’s around the time Sloane came off tour and moved back to Chicago.”
He nodded. “The timeline tracks.” He pushed the Dots aside and turned back to his computer. “Drea said Sloane has quite the collection of purses and bags. They found at least one GeoDot in each one.”
The urge to defend Sloane’s affinity for designer purses was overwhelming, but something niggled in the back of my head, stopping me. Vinny powered on, not noticing the furrow in my brow as he clicked to a new screen.
The words Sloane’s Squad were there in big, sparkling letters, much like the shirts I saw on the fans that kept getting too close for comfort. I narrowed my eyes at the picture of North America, opened my mouth to speak, but before I could, Vinny clicked a button on his screen and the map lit up.
“What the—”
A banner ran below the map with the words Where in the World is Sloane Rivera in big, bold font. Beneath that were instructions: Click to zoom. Watch them move. I can’t wait for you to find me!
“The fuck is this?” Lee asked, his deep voice a low hiss.
“This,” Vinny said, clicking on Illinois, then the mass of dots contained on the northwest corner of the state, “is how those people were finding Sloane. The majority of the markers are right here in this room. I can only assume the others were lost or misplaced. Or maybe even placed on purpose, so people think they have a chance of finding her, to keep the game alive.”
“Someone created a website to help people track Sloane and chase her down? These people broke into her house! They assaulted her in the middle of a charity concert! Why the fuck would they think this is okay?”
It wasn’t until I found Lee and Vinny’s wide eyes on me that I noticed the entire room was silent.
I looked over my shoulder and cringed. Everyone had stopped talking and was staring back at me.
After a couple beats, Van rose from his chair, followed quickly by Drea and Ethan, then Rylan, Joss, and Weston.
Seconds later, the big screen at the front of the room flickered to life.
The Bridgewater Security logo filled the screen before it flashed black again, then was quickly replaced by the Sloane’s Squad website from Vinny’s screen.
“What’s going on?” Sloane squeezed in next to me. She wrapped her fingers around my arm, and that simple touch was enough to calm my rampaging heart.
Vinny walked through what he’d just told me and Lee, but I couldn’t focus on his words.
My attention was fixed on the pads of Sloane’s fingers tracing the vein in my forearm like I was a string instrument she couldn’t wait to play.
Each touch sent a plucking sound through my head, and that voice I’d heard back in her apartment was screaming at me again.
Something’s not right.
Something’s not right.
“Have any idea who’s behind this?” Weston asked as he pushed closer to the big screen, as if he could peer into the images there and find the answers we sought.
“Of course, we do.” Vinny grinned and went back to his keyboard.
The screen on the wall flickered and spun.
“And we have Kolton to thank for that. Due to the contract he gave us, my friends were able to trace the purchase of the GeoDots to the same shell company that owns Calvin Hobson’s artist management company.
Another of Hobson’s companies owns the Sloane’s Squad website, and from the looks of it, he had a business partner on this. ”
Sloane tightened her grip on my arm as she sucked in a sharp breath. I didn’t need to see more than the blond curls on the big screen to know exactly what she’d seen. I wrapped my arm around her and pulled her tight against me.
“Fuckin’ Beckett Giles,” Van murmured from the front of the room. “Never did like that asshole.”
“Van!” Joss hissed before Weston stopped her.
“I agree with him on this.” He looked at Sloane and gave her an apologetic shrug. “Your ex is an asshole.”
“Agreed,” she said quietly before her grip on me tightened again.