Chapter Twenty-Three
Asher
I managed to sleep well on the flight home, which was fortunate because I'd hardly had any chance to sleep at the hotel. Not that I was complaining—not in the least. I’d give up sleep for a night with Lilah any time, even if it meant being woken up at 4:00 and having to leave immediately.
One of the perks of having my own jet was having a bed on it as well. So, on the flight, I'd simply laid down and fallen asleep almost as soon as my head had hit the pillow. So I was refreshed and energized when we touched down, especially after a hearty, wholesome breakfast.
I called Alan Weiss, my head of security, and told him I'd arrived the moment I could use my phone. ALfred was waiting to pick me up in the Maserati, but when I got to the car, I took the wheel.
“I need to get to the building fast. So, I'm going to drive,” I informed him.
I raced through the streets, pushing the car hard, and scaring Alfred in the process, but I got to my building in record time. Alan was there waiting for me, a stern expression on his face, but that was nothing unusual. He always had a rather serious nature. He did seem to be in a better mood than when I'd spoken to him on the phone in Paris, though.
“Would you like the good news first or the bad news, sir?”
I scratched at my chin. “Bad news.”
“Most of the computers are trashed. The intruder did his best to hack into your system and, when he couldn't, he simply destroyed the hard drives instead.”
“Wait, he couldn't get in?”
“That's the good news, sir. Your data is safe.”
I exhaled, a huge wave of relief washing over me. I knew I'd done the right thing by hiring the most expensive—and best—data encryption company in the country. It had turned out to be money well spent.
“Yeah, the perp was obviously an expert. According to the guys in tech, he hacked pretty deep into the system, but still couldn't get past the final security features protecting the highly sensitive data. So, I guess he just got pissed and decided to destroy the computers instead.”
“That doesn't matter, computers can be replaced, and we've got backup of all of our data. Was anything else stolen?”
“Nothing that we can tell, sir. It appears they were only after data.”
I nodded. “Any leads in the investigation?”
“Nothing concrete yet,” Alan responded.
“I have an idea who's behind this. Unfortunately, I have no way to prove it unless you can bring me something.”
“Let me guess. Brendan Savage?”
As soon as I heard the name, a shudder of disgust and anger rippled through me. Brendan Savage was my fiercest competitor. Over the course of the last decade his firm, Savage Inc., had come perilously close to toppling mine from the leading spot.
If he was behind this break in, as I suspected, this wouldn't have been the first time he'd tried to get ahead of me using less than legal means. He wanted that top spot more than anything and was prepared to do whatever it would take to get there—legal or not.
Savage was charming, suave, sophisticated, and narcissistic. He also lacked even a shred of conscience. In other words, he was the perfect psychopath, granted (as far as I knew, anyway) his psychopathy hadn't extended as far as actually murdering anyone. Yet.
Despite having the best investigators on the case, I suspected it would be a futile exercise to try to pin it on him. He was far too intelligent and cunning to leave a trail connecting this crime to himself or his company. Still, I knew he was behind it. Call it a gut feeling.
“What would you have us do now?” Alan asked.
“There isn't much we can do. We just have to let the PI do his job and see if he comes up with anything. Meanwhile, I think it's time for a security upgrade.”
“I was thinking so, too, sir.”
“Use whatever funds you need, Alan. Make this place impenetrable. I don't want this happening again.”
“Understood, sir.”
“Excellent. Now, I'll have to make sure all of our employees know that they've got an unexpected day off on Monday. And then, I'll have to order a whole new set of computers and arrange for those to be brought in and set up on Monday.”
“It's gonna cost a packet, huh?”
I sighed. “Yeah. But it's going to cost way more in terms of lost productivity. Still, there's nothing else we can do, really.”
“All right, sir. I'll go meet up with the PI, and we'll report back to you if we discover anything.”
“Thanks, Alan,” I replied. “I appreciate all your hard work.”
“No problem, sir.”
I watched as he hurried off and, despite the severity of the current situation, I couldn't help but think of Lilah. I checked my phone, hoping for some message from her. The night we'd spent together had been incredible. I couldn't remember the last time I'd been so passionate, so intense, so in tune with anyone. She'd awoken something within me—something glorious, joyous, and full of life and energy.
I calculated the time difference in my head. It would be late in the day in Paris, surely she would have been up and about. I wondered why she hadn’t messaged me. Was she still concerned that romantic feelings between her and I would get in the way of our working relationship? That she wouldn’t be able to get the most out of her career if she got involved with me?
They were valid concerns considering that she was a very driven, ambitious woman, who was focused on her career. But still, what was happening between us didn't feel like a fling, not to me at least. It felt . . . real.
With everything that had just happened, I had enough on my plate. The last thing I needed was to play cat and mouse. So, I typed out a message to her.
Hi, Lilah. I trust you got the note I left in the hotel room. I'm sure you must be cruising around Paris by now, taking in all the sights and sounds and tastes . . . everything awesome about that wonderful city.
I don't know if you've booked your ticket back yet, but no need to be in a hurry. There's been a situation at the office and all the computers are out. It's going to take at least a day to get new ones installed and ready for Tuesday morning.
Anyway, I was just thinking about you. Last night was amazing, and I can't get you off my mind. I really wish I'd been able to stay and enjoy Paris with you, but this was a genuine emergency—I really had to get back. Looking forward to seeing you when you return, and I hope you enjoy the rest of the trip.
I hit send, then stood around waiting to see that the message had been read. For every second that I stood waiting, it seemed time was dragging more and more slowly. Eventually, the delivery showed that she'd seen the message and was typing a response.
I waited anxiously.
The message came through after a few seconds. I read it with eager eyes.
Hi, Asher. Thanks so much for organizing the driver and car. I've been all over Paris to a bunch of museums, cafés, and more. I'll sort out the flight later tonight. Thanks again, see you at the office on Tuesday.
I frowned. Her tone almost seemed cold. I knew it could sometimes be tough to decipher tones from text messages, but she hadn't mentioned anything about the night we'd spent together or said anything that indicated she was thinking about me. It was just a short, matter-of-fact message, something that one might write to a friend, perhaps.
I started typing out a reply, but then stopped. I shook my head and trudged over to the car, where Alfred was waiting for me.
“Are you going to drive again, sir?” he asked.
“Not now. I'm . . . I'm not in the mood.”
“Very well. Where shall I take you, sir?”
“Home.”
“Of course,” Alfred reached to open my door.
I paused. “Actually, no, not home. I don't want to go back home and mope. Let me call up a friend quickly.”
I whizzed through my contacts on my phone, found Bryce’s number, and dialed.
“Bryce speaking, what can I do ya for?”
The moment I heard the voice of my personal trainer, my resolve was set. The ex-marine would surely be up for just the sort of fix I needed at the moment to help relieve me of the frustration of the break-in and Lilah's cold attitude.
“Hey, Bryce. It's Asher.”
“I thought you were in France, son?!”
“Just got back. There was an emergency at the office.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah, but don't worry about that. I was just wondering, you up for heading out to the shooting range?”
I heard him chuckle slowly on the other side of the line. “You got some angst you wanna get out?”
“I do.”
“I'll bring the automatic rifles.”
“Great. I’ll be there in 45.”
“See you there, soldier! Lock and load!”
“See you there, Bryce.”
I turned to Alfred. “You heard that, right? Take me to the hills.”