Chapter 26
TWENTY-SIX
Dutch
The basement seemed like it was closing in on me with the low ceilings.
The screen jittered as my blood pressure hit new heights.
“A dark, psychological thriller following a woman’s descent into madness as she fights her way out of the Great Basin Desert and away from the traffickers who will do anything to capture her.
” Lance read off the screen. “Sold to a different publisher.” He named one of the New York elite houses who didn’t usually publish horror books.
But that was Vantage Point. It was tweaked and I’m sure changed just enough—flipping the protagonist and adding a subplot.
My book.
Phoebe’s cool fingers slid around my forearm. “Dutch, you can’t let him get away with this. You have to go to your publisher.”
I hadn’t been able to face it until now, but there was no denying facts at this point. “What can I do? I have no proof. And the story is just different enough that I couldn’t possibly prove it. Especially since I don’t have a copy.”
“Don’t say never.” Lance turned around in his seat. “If this asshole has a backdoor into your system, that means I have one into his.”
“Really?”
“If you trust me.”
His eyes, so much like Phoebe’s, glowed with purpose. “Let me help you take this sucker down.”
“I still might not be able to prove it. Plagiarism is the hardest thing to prove in this industry.”
“All you need to do is cast doubt, right?” Phoebe asked quietly. “Isn’t that what you’re worried about for your own reputation? What if you turn it around on him?”
“It’s my word against his.”
“Dammit, Dutch. How can you believe that your word wouldn’t be above his? You’re the talent.”
“And he’s bleeding money.” Lance cut in. “I don’t have the hacking skills of some of my friends, but I did a little deep dive. The last book he sold was yours. Until this Lana chick. Maybe he’s not doing as amazing as two houses and an Instagram lifestyle that shows him flying all over the place.”
“He’ll get paid in the same increments as I am.”
“Then change your contract.”
“It’s not that easy, Phoebe.”
“It is if you go to your publisher. If you actually talk to them and ask them for help.”
I paced away from her. Could I even chance it?
Everything I worked for could fall apart if I was wrong.
Phoebe turned back to her brother. “Can you look at his laptop? See what you can do?”
“You’re damn right I will.”
I whirled around. “Why the hell would you help me?”
“First of all, you’re my favorite author. The idea that some other author is going to publish your words under their name enrages me more than it even seems to burn your ass. And second, you’re Phoebe’s. Period.”
Phoebe twisted her fingers. “Please, Dutch. Just try.”
I stalked over to the table and put my logins into the computer. “Do it. I can’t watch.”
“Take him outside, Phee. I’ll comb through every fucking file on your cloud servers, but I’ll find something to help.”
I escaped the basement, the squeak of the stairs under my feet propelling me forward. I just needed space. And air. And to not think about all the years I spent building up my career only to have it crash around me. For what?
I slipped outside and walked around the house, the fresh scent of rain filling my chest.
A happy bark had me crouching down as the full force hit of fur and delirious panting pushed out some of the blanket of sadness that sat on my shoulders. Mouse leaned hard into me until I almost fell over. I wrapped an arm around his neck.
“I’m sorry.”
I closed my eyes as Phoebe wrapped around the both of us. “For money.”
“I know.”
“If he needed money, I would have given it. I have more than I’ll ever spend in a lifetime.”
“You know it’s not just money.”
The sureness in her voice added to the loss that crumbled from under the anger I’d been holding onto for months. Christopher had been my family. Realizing that all the years it had been us against the world was the real illusion was worse than the theft.
And that grief was the most staggering part.
Phoebe laid her head against my shoulder. “You’re not alone. You’ll never be alone again.”
How did she know?
I detangled myself from Mouse to fold her into me. “I love you, Phoebe. What a shitty moment to tell you, but I do.”
“Always in the craziest moments.”
“What?” I eased her back to look down at her.
“That’s not the first time you told me, though I am very happy to hear it again. I was beginning to think I imagined it the first time.”
“No I didn’t.”
She laughed and cupped my face. “The day the book clicked in your head.”
I frowned as I tried to remember.
“After you showed me your book for the first time. The wall...” She trailed off with a smile full of all the love she’d offered me that day. The smile and the laughter I’d grown to rely on. “When I redrew the dandelion seeds among your Dutch hieroglyphics.”
I laughed. “I love you, but get out.” I shook my head at the memory filtering back in.
The words had tumbled out that day because I’d felt safe for the first time in my life.
Not just because she unlocked my creativity again, but because she was the light I needed in every way. “Jesus, how do you even stick around?”
“Because I love you too. You get me on a level no one else ever has. Even if you shoved me out of your office after telling me you love me.”
I knew she loved me. The clues had been there in every generous touch and smile she’d offered me without reservation.
Even when I didn’t deserve them. Mouse wiggled out of the weird tangle we were in and licked my cheek before he ambled off to lay on the patchy grass.
I stood, all the muscles in my legs protesting at the position we’d been in.
I wrapped my arms around her shoulders, folding her against me as I drew in her honey scent. Purpose knit under my skin and sunk into my chest. It was time to stop hiding and to take back my life.
For her.
For me.
For a future that was more than just my career.
A life worthy of a woman made of sunshine.
I glanced over at the white furball of a dog who’d kept coming back no matter how many times I tried to ignore him.
He’d been alone for a long time in those trees and still was brave enough to push his way into our life.
The least I could do was face my demons and make sure I was worthy of both of them.
I stepped back enough to get a good look at Phoebe. My paint splattered pocket of golden sunshine. I lowered my mouth to hers, feeling the smile in her kiss as she wrapped her arms around my waist and leaned into it without reservation.
Always giving all of herself.
I let myself steep in her touch for a little while longer before I stepped back and held my hand out for hers. “Let’s go see what your brother found.”
“Whatever it is, you don’t have to do this alone, okay?”
That was one thing I was sure of in all of this. “Okay.”
We returned to the basement and Lance seemed to have another dozen screens open. One looked like a chat box and another a dark box of code I couldn’t begin to understand.
“You bastard. Thinking you’re so damn clever,” Lance muttered to himself.
“Did you find something?” I asked.
He didn’t turn around. “The security you added used to be one of the best in the market, but I’ve noticed that it has more points of entry than I’m personally comfortable with.
I’ve had to upgrade more apps and websites associated with LockSure than any other on the market lately.
This one was actually on your computer before the upgrade. It was hidden in your cloud server.”
“How? Christopher isn’t a tech bro by any means. No offense.”
Lance snorted. “None taken. He probably bought something off the dark web. There’s a lot of shit out there that can do serious damage.
If you did more banking on your laptop, it probably could have been worse to be honest. But this little backdoor into your system allowed him to essentially search out one file and destroy it.
The good thing is he has to have the exact name of the file. ”
“Like the name of my Word document?”
He nodded and tapped his screen. “When you did all your backups, it essentially had the same file name wherever you put it. Most of us just add a date at the end of the name or save over the old file. But you’re right that he’s not tech minded.
” He glanced over his shoulder. “You obviously aren’t either. ”
I grunted. “Obviously not. Even with what my friend Bastian did, I had specific parameters he gave me. I made sure all of my backups weren’t attached to a cloud server.”
“Well, even if you think it’s a local file, it’s usually on some sort of cloud server. That’s what your agent did. Since you said you shared your book with him before it went to your editor he pretty much just torpedoed every file with a similar name.”
“Fuck.”
“Yeah, not great.” Lance was rapid fire typing in the chat window.
“However, I have a very clever friend who works in cybersecurity and she gave me a few tips to look for default backups.” At what had to be my blank look, he laughed.
“Like, when your computer shuts down for no reason or you have a power outage, you know how the computer comes on again and has the recovered file?”
“Oh. Yeah, I’ve seen that before.”
“The problem is, they don’t have real names and kinda just swim around in the cache files on your computer. Not exactly easy to find. However, with a few keyword searches, I was able to dig through and...” He tapped the key harder and a Word document filled half the screen.
One I’d never thought I would see again.
I stepped toward his desk and dug my fingers into his shoulder. “Fuck me. How did you do that?”
“Helped that you didn’t have a lot on your computer. Your research seems pretty organized.”
“Yeah, I’m very analog except for some library archives.”
“Works in your favor.”
Phoebe rushed her brother and wrapped her arms around his neck from the back. “You found it?”
“I found a version of it. No idea if it’s the finished file.”
“It doesn’t matter.” My voice cracked. “That story won’t ever be mine now. It’s been twisted in a way I can’t trust sharing with people, but I can use this to go after Christopher.”
“That you can.”
“I can’t thank you enough.”
“Well, you can thank me after I shore up your security.”
“I’ll just buy a new laptop for fuck’s sake.”
Lance patted his sister’s arm before she gave him some room.
“It’s forever going to replicate just because of your backups to the cloud that attach to your phone or some benign file will forever keep it open. Until I’m done with it.”
“I’ll be in your debt.”
“Nah. Just name a character after me and make sure he dies gruesomely.”
I laughed. “That, I can do.”
“Only problem is, you’ll need to leave your laptop here. It’s going to take me a while to make sure this fuckhead will be locked out.”
“And if I wanted to trap him first?”
Lance turned his chair around. “I’m listening.”
“I want Christopher’s reputation in shreds.”
“Dutch, don’t let him keep you in this angry place anymore.”
I held my hand out to Phoebe and she took it without hesitation. “I don’t want him to do this to another author.”
Her big dark eyes were worried, but she nodded. “Okay. That, I can get behind.”
“I’m going to need some help first.”
I pulled out my phone and dialed Monte.