Chapter 4
CHAPTER FOUR
Jack
The rhythmic clack of my keyboard filled the small spare bedroom I’d turned into my home office, each line of code another thread in the protective web I was spinning.
Afternoon light slanted through the blinds, cutting golden stripes across my desk and brightening the muted gray walls I’d painted last spring.
I leaned back in my chair, rolled the stiffness from my shoulders, and winced at the series of pops that traveled down my spine.
The tension headache that had been threatening all afternoon pressed against my temples with dull insistence.
Another security audit completed. Another client’s virtual stronghold shored up against the invisible onslaught of malicious code and prying eyes.
A wall of defense that most people would never see or appreciate but that meant the difference between safety and violation.
I felt a quiet pride knowing my clients were protected, blissfully unaware of the digital sentinels I’d positioned between them and chaos.
My phone buzzed against the desk. The sharp vibration sliced through the quiet like a blade.
I glanced down, expecting a text from Cooper, or maybe an update from my newest client.
Instead, a notification from my monitoring software blinked across the screen.
The red alert banner caused my stomach to drop before I’d even processed the words.
Unauthorized access detected:
I sat up straighter, heart suddenly pounding against my ribs like it was trying to escape.
It had only been two days since I’d installed Cooper’s security overhaul, yet someone was already pushing at his business’s website, testing for weaknesses.
The assault struck me as too much of a coincidence, coming so close on the heels of his POS attack—this wasn’t some random bot crawling the web for vulnerabilities, but someone deliberately targeting Cooper’s business.
Why would they specifically go after The Coffee Cove? Who was targeting Cooper?
My fingers flew over the keys, adrenaline surging through my veins as I remotely navigated to the live logs.
Lines of code scrolled like a digital waterfall across my monitor, but my trained eye zeroed in on the breach attempt.
They weren’t just poking at the surface—they were targeting Cooper’s coffee subscription service, where customer payment data and personal information were stored.
It wasn’t just an attack on the shop’s public-facing website. It was a deliberate strike at the heart of Cooper’s business, at a significant source of his sales.
My pulse thundered in my ears as I worked rapidly.
My mind raced ahead of my fingers, anticipating the attacker’s next move before they made it.
I identified their entry point: a clever back door hidden inside what looked like a routine system ping, the digital equivalent of slipping through a service entrance disguised as a delivery person.
I cut them off with ruthless efficiency before they breached the customer database, throwing up additional barriers.
Security held. No data accessed. No leaks.
Still, the knot of fear in my stomach didn’t loosen as I sat and stared at the screen long after I’d neutralized the threat.
Someone wasn’t just messing around with a small local business for practice. They were escalating, moving from nuisance to potential theft, from annoyance to deliberate harm.
And Cooper—Cooper with his trusting nature and his belief in the inherent goodness of people—had no idea of the danger circling ever closer to everything he’d built.
I shoved back from my desk and sent my chair rolling into the wall with a dull thud.
I bolted downstairs, my boots thudding urgently against the wooden steps.
Cold air slapped my face the moment I stepped outside, and the January chill cut through my thin sweater.
But I barely felt it as I made a beeline toward The Coffee Cove. Purpose and fear drove me forward.
Inside, the shop was quieter than usual for a Wednesday afternoon. Only a handful of customers gathered around the tables, sipping drinks and tapping away at laptops, cocooned in their own worlds.
Behind the counter, Cooper and Jessica worked in tandem with ease, a choreographed dance of efficiency they’d perfected over the year.
Cooper steamed milk, his brow furrowed in concentration, sleeves pushed up to reveal the lean muscles of his forearms that flexed as he worked.
Jessica caught sight of me first, her purple-tipped ponytail bobbing as she tilted her head in question.
Her dark eyes narrowed at what she saw in my expression.
Cooper noticed me a second later. His smile flashed in greeting, the one that took over his whole face—but in an instant the smile faded, replaced by a concern that made the lines around his eyes deepen.
“Hey, Jack.” His voice carried across the quiet space. “Everything okay?” The question was casual, but I could hear the thread of worry woven through it.
“Can we talk? In your office?” I kept my voice low, trying not to alarm him—or the customers who might be listening. My hands clenched and unclenched at my sides, betraying the tension I fought to contain.
Jessica stepped forward without missing a beat, reading the room with her usual perceptiveness. “I’ve got the front, boss.” She nudged Cooper with her elbow, a silent command to go.
Cooper wiped his hands on a towel, nodded, and rounded the counter to meet me.
He led the way through the swinging half-door and down the narrow hallway to the back of the shop.
His shoulder brushed mine briefly as we navigated the tight space.
That momentary contact sent electricity skittering across my skin, inappropriate given the circumstances, but impossible to ignore.
His office was small, functional, and scrupulously organized in a way that spoke volumes about the man himself.
A sturdy metal desk dominated the space, its surface clear except for a laptop, a neat stack of invoices, and a framed photo of Cooper and Lily at the beach.
A battered filing cabinet stood in the corner.
Two chairs squeezed into the remaining square footage, barely leaving room to maneuver.
Cooper closed the door behind us with a click that seemed unnaturally loud in the confined space. The air immediately felt thicker, charged with the weight of what I had to tell him.
“What’s going on?” Worry sharpened the edges of his voice and stripped away the easygoing barista persona he wore for customers.
I took a deep breath and steadied myself, trying to find the right balance between gravity and reassurance. “Another attempt at a breach. Fifteen minutes ago.” The words came out more clipped than I intended, my jaw tight with the effort of containing my anger at whoever was targeting him.
His face paled. “What happened?” The question was barely more than a whisper.
“They targeted your subscription service—your customer data.” I sank into the chair opposite his desk, guilt heavy in my chest like a physical weight pressed against my sternum. “I blocked it before they got in. There was no data accessed, and no information leaked. I swear. You’re safe.”
Cooper braced himself against the top of the desk, fingers splayed as if to anchor himself.
He stared down for a long moment, jaw clenched tight enough that I could see the muscles working beneath his skin.
His pulse throbbed visibly at his temple.
The silence stretched, filled only with our breathing and the muffled sounds of the coffee shop beyond the door. He dropped into his chair.
“You stopped it,” he said finally, voice rough as sandpaper. “That’s what matters.” His eyes, when they lifted to meet mine, held a mixture of gratitude and fear that made my heart twist painfully.
I nodded, but the guilt gnawed at me, sharp-toothed and relentless. “I should’ve stopped them before they got that close.” My hands curled into fists on my knees. “I should have anticipated this escalation.”
“How could you have prevented it? You can’t blame yourself.
You’ve done everything you could, and you caught it before they did any damage,” Cooper said fiercely.
His eyes held an intensity that pinned me in place.
“Jack, you’re the only reason I even know what’s going on.
I trust you.” The determination in his voice broke through my defenses.
The raw sincerity made my throat tighten, emotion rising like a tide I couldn’t control.
I wanted to reach across the desk and take his hand, to promise him that nothing and no one would ever hurt him while I was around.
Instead, I remained still, afraid that if I moved, I might not stop until I’d pulled him into my arms.
He dragged a hand through his hair, making it stick up at odd angles that would have been endearing in any other circumstance.
“Why would anyone want to hurt my shop? Me?” His voice cracked slightly on the last word, and it damn near broke me to hear the bewilderment there, the inability to comprehend why anyone would target something he’d built with such care and love.
I leaned forward, elbows on my knees, and closed the distance between us as much as I dared. “That’s what we need to figure out.” The words came out low and resolute.
Cooper was quiet for a moment, staring past me like he could somehow find the answer in the faded paint of the office wall. “Ben wouldn’t want to hurt me, would he?”
“Ben? Why?”
“He came in the day before the POS attack,” he said reluctantly.
My spine stiffened, a bolt of something hot and possessive shooting through me. “Ben?” The name tasted bitter on my tongue. Cooper’s ex. The bastard who’d left him broken.
“Yeah, he came into the shop. Wanted me back.” Cooper’s mouth tightened into a grim line, and the softness vanished from his features. “I told the cheater to fuck off. He was pissed.”
Ben—who had set up Cooper’s entire system and website, who had known all his passwords.
I forced myself to breathe evenly and fought the urge to find Ben immediately to make it very clear what would happen if he were behind this.
But I couldn’t allow my contempt for him to blind me to other possibilities.
“Anyone else?” I kept my voice neutral with effort.
He nodded, eyes darkening. “Martin. The guy who owns the new coffee shop down the street. He came in last week, poked around. Took pictures before I asked him to leave.” His fingers drummed against the desk.
A low growl built in my chest, but I kept it contained. Barely. My protective instincts roared to life and demanded action. Demanded I eliminate any threat to Cooper immediately. I tamped them down. Barely.
I sat back, crossed my arms, and tried to approach this professionally despite the personal fury simmering in my veins.
“Both of them have motive. Ben…well, we know how ugly that breakup was. And the jerk expected you to forgive and forget.” I swore under my breath.
“And Martin’s been undercutting your prices since the day he opened.
Either could have sabotaged you or hired someone to do it. ”
Cooper’s expression was carefully neutral, a mask he wore well, but the slight tremor in his fingers betrayed him. He folded his hands in his lap, probably to hide the trembling, unaware that I noticed everything about him, had cataloged every expression, every habit, every tell.
I lowered my voice, needing him to understand the magnitude of what we were facing.
“Coop…this wasn’t amateur hour. Whoever’s behind it knows what they’re doing.
And they’re serious.” I let the implication hang in the air between us: that this wouldn’t stop, that the attacks would likely escalate further.
“And there’s something about the attacks that feels familiar.
I just can’t put my finger on it.” I leaned forward again, my voice steady, my resolve even steadier.
“I’m going to find out who’s behind this.
I promise.” The vow emerged from some deep, fundamental part of me, absolute and unbreakable.
Cooper studied me for a long moment. The vulnerability in his eyes sliced straight through the armor I wore for everyone else. I wondered what he saw—if he could read the depth of my feelings, the reasons behind my determination that went far beyond professional pride.
“Thanks, Jack,” he said quietly, the simple words weighted with emotion. “I don’t know what I’d do without you.”
You’ll never have to, I wanted to say. Because I wasn’t going anywhere, not as long as he needed me. And even if he didn’t.
Instead, I rose from the chair and squeezed his shoulder, feeling the heat of him through the fabric of his T-shirt, the solid strength beneath my palm.
He didn’t move away from the touch. Didn’t tense.
Instead, surprisingly, he leaned into it slightly, almost imperceptibly.
Something fierce and tender unwound in my chest.
As I stepped back into the hallway, the resolve settled deeper into my bones and hardened into unshakable certainty.
Whoever was trying to hurt Cooper—hurt what he’d built with years of work and hope and sacrifice—would have to go through me first.
And I’d burn my entire career to the ground before I let anyone harm the man I loved.