Lauren hung up her cell phone and grabbed her laptop, shoving it into her bag. 

Gabe watched her, a deep v between his brows. “Babe?” 

Lauren sighed. “That was Dave again. He said Li Na’s team tried to hack us multiple times tonight. I’m going in.”

I jumped up. “I’m coming with you.”

Then I leaned down and kissed Wes good-bye quickly, before he could object. 

“Want me to come, too?” Gabe asked.

“No, thanks. I can handle it.” Lauren turned to me. “You don’t need to go back to the office tonight—I can handle this. I just wanted you to know what was going on.”

“I understand.” I grabbed my tote anyway. “But I’m still coming.”

We were quiet on the car ride to the lab. “Did you talk to Fiona again?” 

I motioned with my phone. “She texted me a few minutes ago. She called the FBI and was wrapping some stuff up at the office. She’s going to call Levi.” 

“Anything else?”

I shrugged. “She said she hadn’t heard anything else from Li Na.”

“That’s because Li Na’s busy hacking us.” Lauren closed her eyes and shook her head. “She is an ever-loving pain in my ass.”

I would’ve laughed—my sister rarely swore—but my nerves were too shot.

Our security guards, Timmy and Brian, hustled us into Paragon’s lobby.

“What do you think she was trying to do?” 

She sighed. “I don’t know yet. But it’s probably business as usual—she’s trying to steal my technology.”

I followed her down the hall to Dave and Leo’s office. “You think she’d find a better way to spend her time.”

“Well, she has, remember? She’s hacking Fiona Pace now, too.”

I shook my head. “With all the time she spends hacking and threatening, she could probably make some headway with research and development.”

“I don’t know. I don’t think that’s her business model. Now that I know she’s going after Fiona, it looks like Li Na is more interested in acquisition by force.”

I shuddered as we reached the office. “It would be better if she could find a willing partner.”

“Agreed.” Lauren paused before going in. “Listen, I appreciate you coming in and all, but you should probably go home. It’s late, and honestly, you look tired. I don’t need you coming back and working crazy hours right away. You need to take it easy.”

“I need to find out what this bitch is doing inside our system again!”

She sighed. “Fine. I knew you were going to say that—even the ‘bitch’ part—but I was just doing my big-sister due diligence.”

I raised my hands. “Just stop. Between you and Wes, I’m feeling over-diligenced.”

“What do you mean? Is Wes worried about you, too? Because—”

“Lauren,” Leo called from inside the office, “We need to show you something.”

Lauren gave me one last suspicious look as we headed in. Leo and Dave’s office was its characteristic mess, with empty takeout containers and candy bar wrappers littering every available surface. Both of them lived here. Like, literally. Dave had proudly told me at a meeting earlier in the day that he hadn’t been home for three weeks.

Silicon Valley was like that. We wore our nonstop-work dark circles like badges of honor. Well, I used high-end concealer to cover up mine.

I cleared some empty coconut-water containers from a portion of the couch and warily sat down next to Dave, who wore scuffed Vans sneakers and a hoodie that looked as if he’d owned it since ninth grade. I hoped there weren’t M&M’s stuffed into the cushions like the last time I’d visited the guys. They’d stained my favorite skirt.

Leo, who looked more like a scruffy undergrad than a high-powered tech executive, hunched over his desk, tapping rapidly on his keyboard. Dave bounced his laptop on his bony knees. He held out a bag of Twizzlers to me. 

I wrinkled my nose, disgusted by the unnaturally red candy. “No, thanks. And you should probably eat some real food—did you have dinner?”

Dave held up the Twizzlers, looking guilty.

“Ugh, how many times do I have to tell you two to eat normal meals? And to get outside and go for a walk? You’re both so pale and skinny—”

“There it is,” Leo said.

He pointed to the screen, and Lauren leaned over to see the piece of code.

“She put something in our firewall. I don’t understand what it is. It’s not a code I’ve seen before. And why would she do that?” Lauren asked, her brow furrowed. “As far as I know, she still wants my technology. She shouldn’t be trying to destroy my system.” 

Leo scratched his patchy beard. “I’m not certain it’s a virus, but I also don’t understand what it’s doing in our firewall. I need to check it out further. Have you heard anything from her—has she been in touch over the last few weeks?”

“No, not recently.” Lauren’s phone buzzed. “It’s Gabe—I’ll just be a second.” 

“Do you want me to order takeout for you?” I whispered to Dave. “I can get Japanese delivered. I can order you something with protein and vegetables—remember them?”

“But I like Twizzlers,” Dave whined.

“No—please tell me that isn’t true,” Lauren said into the phone, her voice too loud. Her shoulders shook.

I jumped up. “What is it?”

“I don’t…I can’t believe this is happening. I’ll call you back.” Lauren hung up and put her face in her hands. “That was Gabe. He just heard—Jim Pace was shot tonight. He’s dead.”

“Who’s Jim Pace?” Dave asked.

Lauren’s throat worked as she swallowed. “Fiona Pace’s husband. Fiona Pace, the Protocol Therapeutics CEO.” 

Dave’s brow furrowed. “I don’t know who she is…”

Lauren’s face was a pale mask. “She’s Li Na Zhao’s latest target. And now her husband’s dead.”