Total pages in book: 79
Estimated words: 77354 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 387(@200wpm)___ 309(@250wpm)___ 258(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77354 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 387(@200wpm)___ 309(@250wpm)___ 258(@300wpm)
So she knows the attacks are coming through Bennett’s phone? How is it possible that he doesn’t seem to know that? “Ten days?” I ask, when the real question I want to ask is why she hasn’t told Bennett that his phone is putting Fort Inc. at risk.
“Yeah. I’ve been trying to… I don’t know how well you know Bennett, but he doesn’t trust a lot of people.”
“I know that much,” I say.
She nods. “I guessed you would when he asked me to meet with you. He wouldn’t have done that if he didn’t trust you.”
“I think he does,” I say.
“Can I ask why you haven’t told him what you’ve found?” she asks. It’s the exact question I want to ask her.
“Because I don’t…” I let the sentence taper off, then start again. “Someone has to be physically close to his phone to be able to get and renew their access, since the firewalls are changed and renewed every twenty-four hours. Just because you got access one time, unless you penetrate the systems on the first attempt, you need ongoing access—”
“Right,” she says—and of course I’m explaining something she already knows.
“So that means whoever’s attacking Fort Inc. has regular access to Ben.”
“Right,” she says again.
Silence settles between us. Neither of us says what we’re both thinking.
“He doesn’t trust a lot of people,” she says again, finally.
“And it will break him to know that someone he does trust has betrayed him,” I reply. “I was looking for something conclusive.”
“I’d like to map his movements,” she says. “When he’s at the hotel, that’s easy. I don’t think it’s coming from there. He’s not going to let his phone out of his sight when there are strangers in his room. Apart from that, do you know of any regular meetings he has where he’d leave his phone unattended? I’ve gotten details on his personal trainer, who checks out. It’s definitely not him. I’ve obviously checked everyone at Fort. He doesn’t have a driver…”
I nod, understanding that she will have ruled out all the obvious suspects. That’s not where my suspicions lie. I just don’t know if she knows about Bennett’s Monday night gathering.
“Is there anyone else you can think of?” Aarvi asks.
“Yeah,” I say. “There is.”
TWENTY-SEVEN
Efa
The lobby of Leo’s building looks like a futuristic science lab. Everything is bright white marble and glass—a blank slate. It’s the exact opposite of what I need right now, which is distraction. I’m trying to think of something other than the burner phone in my pocket and whether or not one of Bennett’s best friends is betraying him. I want resolution for Bennett. I just don’t want the resolution I suspect we’re going to get.
“I need my shades,” Bennett says, nudging me as we stand hand in hand, waiting for the woman behind the desk to call up to Leo.
I’m zoned out and he knows it. I turn my face up to him, giving him my full attention, which is what he deserves. I can’t help but smile. “I thought you’d like it. Your meeting rooms look very much like this.”
“Do they?” he asks, his brow furrowed.
My smile widens. “Have you never been?”
“Not for a while. I don’t remember what they look like.” I laugh and feel it in my belly. Bennett’s one of the cleverest men on the planet, but some things don’t even register in that brain of his. It’s adorable.
Then my smile fades. Maybe his best friend’s betrayal isn’t registering with him either. He’s a smart man. Why hasn’t he investigated those closest to him?
Because he trusts them.
It’s like someone’s got their stiletto on my toe. It hurts, because if what Aarvi and I suspect is true, Bennett’s going to be hurting.
“Go ahead, sir, madam,” the woman behind the desk says as she puts down the phone. “It’s the penthouse.”
“Of course it is.” I roll my eyes and we head toward the lifts. “Do you think you’ll ever be friends with someone who doesn’t have money?”
“None of my friends had money before business school. Oh, apart from Worth. And Jack of course. He’s American royalty.” He holds the lift doors open and ushers me inside.
“So you had to make the others rich so they were acceptable to you?”
“Yes, Efa, everyone around me has to have at least ten million in the bank or I can’t even look at them.”
Why do I find such a dry sense of humor so completely sexy?
I laugh. “It’s not fun if you don’t bite.”
He raises his eyebrows and presses a kiss to the top of my head. “Thanks for coming tonight,” he says.
“Wouldn’t miss it.” It’s true on lots of different levels.
Bennett asking me to Monday night sports again is a complete win. When I left the meeting with Aarvi, I wasn’t sure how I was going to engineer an invite—I just knew there was no other way. I’d been musing on ideas, everything from saying I had the urge to make a lamb curry and we should invite his friends to watch Monday night sports at my place, to calling up Nadia and asking her if she was planning on attending, so I could tell Bennett and offer to accompany him again to keep her occupied. Not that it worked last time. I even thought about suggesting I could arrange mani-pedis for us to keep Nadia from licking Leo’s ear for an hour.