A second later, his focus centered back on her. His eyes narrowed as he murmured, “Speak of the devil.”
The unexpected words drew a frown, and it dawned on her that the house had fallen eerily silent. Pinned under Jackson’s intense scrutiny, she realized with a sinking feeling that she’d made a mistake by coming here without reaching Dean first. If he was the one Jackson had been arguing with, no way the argument would’ve been put on hold to answer the door.
But someone was in there. Maybe even someone she wasn’t supposed to see.
She took a step back while darting her gaze behind him. Wanting to see who was there, yet scared to at the same time. “I, um, is Dean here?”
“No. Why would he be?”
Don’t let him see your fear. Gina lifted her chin and met his cold gaze. “Because of the news in the TI briefs.”
A smile curved lips that now revealed his cruel nature. “Saw that, did you?” He shrugged, completely unconcerned. “We’re very excited about the new software release. Now, if Daley wishes to stop by and congratulate me, my lawyers and I would love to have him set foot on my property.”
She clutched her keys in her pocket. His self-satisfied arrogance made her wish she could punch him like Dean had last week. “You’re not going to get away with this, Jackson. Not this time.”
His gaze narrowed again. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“You will,” she warned as she backed up another step and turned to leave.
He seized her arm so fast she gave a small exclamation of surprise.
“What does that mean?”
“Let me go,” she demanded, fighting to keep the distress from her voice as she strained against his hold.
“Not until you explain that smug little statement.” He glanced out toward his driveway again, turning his head back and forth as if to make sure no-one was watching. “Come on in, we’ll talk inside.”
When he exerted pressure to pull her into the house, panic rose in her chest. She leaned back, trying to twist away. “No. Let go. I will scream if—”
A violent jerk spun her around, cutting off her words as he shoved her inside with one hand and kicked the door shut. Before she could do more than suck in a breath, he pinned her against the wall and moved so close she could feel his breath on her face.
“Tell me what you meant,” he demanded his voice full of menace.
Stupid idiot! Couldn’t just keep her mouth shut, could she? No, she’d had to let her anger get the better of her and provoke him. Now she trembled as his grip tightened on her arms, bringing back the frightening memory of last week.
Would the truth anger him more, or convince him to let her go before digging his grave deeper? No good alternative story came to mind, and his incensed gaze told her time was up.
“We built a secret code into the software,” she admitted. “Dean will have no problem proving you stole it.”
One dark eyebrow arched. “We? Then you know what it is?”
“I…” Shit.
He jerked her away from the wall and pushed her ahead of him into the living room. “You’re going to fix this, Gina. Now.”
“And if I don’t?”
“You’ll damn well wish you had.”
She wrenched free of his grasp and moved around the coffee table to face him. “What are you going to do, rape me?”
He reached over to open the small drawer of the console table against the wall. Then he withdrew a handgun and calmly replied, “We can start there.”
Her breath seized in her lungs at the sight of the weapon. She didn’t know he owned a gun.
“Jack! What are you doing?”
Gina jumped at the harsh exclamation, then whipped around as Liz stepped into the room. What the hell?
The redhead frowned at Jackson until her disapproving blue gaze flicked down and she came to an abrupt halt, her eyes wide.
I’m not the only one who didn’t know about the gun.
“I told you to stay out of sight,” Jackson snarled. “You just can’t help but fuck this up in every way possible, can you?”
Gina glanced back to see his expression darkened into a mask of fury.
“I already said I was sorry,” Liz snapped.
“Sorry doesn’t do shit for us right now.”
“Neither does threats. I didn’t sign up for this.”
“But betraying a friend is just fine?” Gina asked Dean’s betrayer.
“Shut up and sit down,” Jackson thundered.
The woman flicked her a dismissive glance as she lowered herself down to the edge of the couch. “Jack, I honestly thought it would help if the leak could be traced back to her since they were already suspicious of her.”
“My God, you are a stupid bitch. Nothing should be able to be traced,” he roared. “Not when it’s coming to me!” He slammed his fist into the wall and Gina flinched right along with Liz.
But as he paced away from the crumbling dent in the drywall, the redhead surprised her by moving closer to intercept him. She watched in silence, still stunned by the fact Mike’s sister was the one working with Jackson.
The thought of Dean’s vice president arrested her thoughts. Was he in on it, too? God, she sure hoped not. The two were as close as brothers. Liz was bad enough, it would kill him to be betrayed by Mike, too.
“All we have to do is get her laptop,” Liz reasoned. “I can erase everything before anyone sees it.”
That’s how he’d gotten the program—the aptly labeled bitch had used her computer to send it to him. Probably yesterday while she was upstairs with the delivery men.
In the next moment, full comprehension of Dean’s absence this morning swept through her. Crushing pain flowed in its wake, making her chest hurt with every breath she took. That cold, curt note suddenly made perfect sense. Somehow he’d seen the evidence Liz planted, but instead of giving her a chance to defend herself, he’d taken her computer and left. Probably to go to the police so they could arrest her.
After what they’d shared last night, his lack of trust stabbed into her heart like a jagged knife.
“Okay, great,” Jackson said to Liz, his voice laced with sarcasm. “Erase it all. And then what do you propose we do about her?”
Liz didn’t answer.
With the gun in his hand, and him talking as if she wasn’t even there, Gina feared he’d deduced there was only one sure way to guarantee her silence. Liz looked uncomfortable enough to have reached the same conclusion.
Her mind rebelled in disbelief. He wouldn’t be willing to go that far…would he?
Jackson gestured toward the redhead with the weapon. “This is on you. If you’d have stuck to my plan we’d be fine. This is exactly why I was so careful to set things up with Ty. Putting suspicion on him kept them from ever looking at you, and we never had to worry about a traceable link.”
“We can still figure something out,” she argued. “Something that doesn’t involve…that.”
She’d flicked Gina a sideways glance with the last lowered word, and Jackson laughed with derision. “You’re fooling yourself with that one, sweetheart. Especially now that she knows about you.”
The flash of dismay on Liz’s face shook her hope that she could appeal to the woman’s sympathies. Jackson turned toward Gina, and the calculating gleam in his eyes said he’d do whatever he felt needed to be done. The man before her wasn’t even close to the person she thought she knew. This man looked to be fully capable of murder.
God, please, let Dean have gotten my mess—
The memory of him asking to use her phone because he’d lost his in the accident replayed in her brain. Panic rose again with the realization that he had no way of getting her message. No one knew where she was right now. They could kill her and no one would know!
Her breath came in short gasps and her heart pounded so hard she worried she’d pass out. Digging her fingernails into her arms, she concentrated on the physical pain and forced herself to breathe a
s she watched Liz sidle up to Jackson.
“Please don’t be mad at me,” she pleaded in a low, sultry voice. He wound one arm around her waist and dragged her willing body against his.
Deep breath in, then out. Think. She couldn’t give up if she wanted to survive.
“This could be a good thing, our chance to start over together.” The woman kept talking but lowered her voice. Gina just made out, “…enough with worth.”
The word clicked in her mind—that was it! WORTH was the acronym for the children’s charity she’d seen on his computer last year.
“You forced my hand,” Jackson accused, his jaw clenched.
“I’ll fix it. I promise. You know how much I love you.” Liz pouted up at him. “It’s hard sitting on the sidelines.”
With a firmer grip on her self-control, Gina’s brain started working even as she strained to catch every word of their exchange. Good news was, Jackson hadn’t searched her, so she still had her phone in her jacket pocket. And until she fixed the code in the software, they needed her alive. She could convincingly stall that process long enough to find an opportunity to dial 9-1-1 and wait for help.
Jackson’s expression softened the tiniest bit as he gazed down into Liz’s face, and then he crushed his mouth down on hers for a passionate kiss that turned Gina’s stomach. Based on what she’d heard, she guessed they’d been involved for quite a while. Wonder if the redhead knew about Grace?
She started to put her right hand into her pocket even as she cast a glance toward the door to gauge her chances of running.
“Don’t.”
Her whole body jerked at Jackson’s harsh warning. She rubbed her hand on her thigh and drew her gaze back to find his glacial blue eyes focused on her. Nausea rose in her throat. How had she ever thought he loved her?
“Is your laptop in your car?” he demanded.
She didn’t dare let him know Dean had taken it. “I left it at his house.”
His expression turned lethal again. “Fuck.”
“But he wasn’t even home when I left…” She trailed off, then regrouped. “Yesterday, I mean. He stayed at Mike’s last night because of the ice storm.”
“Perfect,” Liz exclaimed. “I can go grab it right now while she fixes the software. He’ll never know.”
No! Gina realized her mistake but bit back the denial even though the last thing she wanted was to be left alone with Jackson. Think, damn it.
“Except he could already be home,” Jackson pointed out.
“I’ll cooperate any way you want,” Gina quickly offered, letting her fear bleed into her voice. “My email is all online. I can access it from here and delete anything that would link back to you.”
Jackson was unconvinced. “There’d still be a trail.”
“You know I know exactly what to do to erase it all.” She gave the gun in his hand a pointed look. “Believe me, I’m not going to do anything stupid.”
Blue eyes narrowed in speculation. Then he used the weapon to point to the laptop in front of her. “Do it, but you damn well better not skip anything. You watch her,” he snapped at Liz.
The woman moved behind the couch as Gina logged into her account. Her eagle eye didn’t allow a quick email plea for help, and without knowing exactly how deep her knowledge went, Gina would have no choice but to delete every last link that could’ve been used against the both of them.
As she worked, her thoughts turned back to Dean. Mentally blocking out the pain of his distrust, she focused on the possibility that he had taken the evidence on her laptop to the police. Erasing the email trail would only take so long, but once she was working in the software, she would have more opportunity to stall until they arrived.
Please, God, let that be where he went.
Chapter 24
Dean shook hands with the officer who’d helped him, then slid his folded copy of the accident report into his back pocket as he returned to his car. He was anxious to get back to the house, but once behind the wheel, he braced his elbow on the door to his left. Rubbing his fingers back and forth along his jaw, he squinted toward the lot where his vehicle had been towed to be scrapped for parts.
That word stuck in his mind. Scrapped.
All the while he’d dealt with the aftermath of the accident, something about the situation with Gina niggled at the back of his head. Scrapped. Scrubbed. The words were similar enough that what was bothering him about her betrayal slammed home.
It had all been way too easy. The email right there in her sent file. The program saved on her hard drive.
All of it so easy to find.
But she wasn’t stupid. If she’d given Brady his program, she would have erased everything. Deleted the email from her sent box, her trash, everywhere. Same with the program files. She had the skills and the know-how to scrub her computer clean, so no way she’d leave the damning evidence in plain sight for him to find.
For that matter, why email the damn thing when a flash drive would’ve left no trace at all?
The answer was obvious. Because she’d been set up, that’s why.
Now the question was, by whom? His jaw tensed as he drew in a breath. Unfortunately, that list of names was way shorter than he liked.
Mike or Liz.
Maybe both?
The thought of being betrayed by close, trusted friends a second time in his life hurt almost as much as when he’d believed the woman he loved was guilty. But much as he hated to consider them, they were the only two who both had access to his home system and Gina’s computer.
He reached over to the passenger seat for her laptop. Once powered up, he began a meticulous search for the malware he suspected had been installed the night her office had been broken into. She’d assured him she’d checked the system, but he wished he’d insisted on taking a look himself. Going off the obvious assumption one of his new suspects was working for Jack, and having had prior experience with his MO, he located the rootkit software in less than fifteen minutes by searching the recently updated programs that required administrator rights to modify.
In this case Jack had used a sophisticated keylogger to steal her new passwords, then changed the auto-backup system to send him copies of any desired files including emails, spreadsheets, and new code. It was hidden so deep, unless a person was specifically looking for it, it was easily overlooked—even by a professional.
His speakers in the car announced an incoming call and Dean jabbed the hands-free button on his steering wheel when he heard the name. “What?”
“Where have you been?” Mike exclaimed.
“Dealing with the police about my accident,” he explained shortly.
“Oh. Well, you said to get back to you when I heard something from Quinn…”
The hesitancy in his voice irritated Dean. “And?”
“He doesn’t have any information on Ty, but he took a drive past Jack’s and…Gina’s car is there.”
“What?” He glanced at his phone where it was plugged into the charger as if it would explain why the hell she’d go there. At the same time, he started the Mustang and threw it into gear, then shot the screen another glance to confirm the information he’d just glimpsed.
Three missed calls. One new voicemail. From Gina.
“I’m sorry man,” Mike was saying.
“I gotta go.”
“No—wait! There’s more—”
He disconnected the call, grabbed his phone, and played the voicemail as he gunned the gas out of the lot.
“Dean, I just saw the news in TI and you’re not here and I got your note. I know you’re angry, but I’m begging you please, don’t go over there. I’m on my way and I really need you to wait for me.”
It sounded like she was running, and as she spoke, her words were underscored by a door slam, another door slam, and then an engine started up.
“I’ve been thinking about what you said last night, about something I may have seen and I’m pretty sure Jackson has something going on with a ch
ildren’s charity out of New York. I can’t remember the name, but together, I’m thinking we could use it to strong arm him into rescinding his release announcement.” Finally a pause as she sucked in a breath that shook across the line. “God, I hope you get this in time and don’t do anything stupid. Don’t give him the satisfaction. If we do this together, we can beat him, so please wait for me. Please. I love you.”
Dean’s pulse went from zero to sixty in a single skip as the message ended.
I love you.
He stepped on the gas and his speedometer exceeded his heart rate as he sped up the on ramp for the highway. If only she’d listened to his note, he’d be on his way home to tell her that he believed her and trusted her, and he loved her, too.
She’d left the message almost forty-five minutes ago. Her additional calls were spaced over fifteen minutes—presumably during her drive to Jack’s house. The fact she hadn’t called since worried the hell out of him, but all he could do was pray she was okay as he engaged the voice command to call her.
It went to voicemail after the fifth ring, and he disconnected before pounding a fist on the steering wheel. “Sonofabitch.”
His next call was to Quinn, requesting him to use his police contacts to reach the two officers who were familiar with the recent events between him, Gina, and Jack.
“Are you still in the area?” Dean asked.
“No. You want me to head back?”
“Please. I haven’t had a call from Gina in over a half-hour, and I’m not waiting for the police if she’s in danger.” And if Jack had hurt her, he was going to need someone to keep him from killing the sonofabitch.
“Try Liz.”
“Why?”
“Because she’s there, too. Didn’t Mike tell you?”
That was the more Dean had hung up on. “He tried.” His phone buzzed for an incoming text and he grabbed up his phone to read Mike’s message as he drove, his gaze darting back and forth between the road and the screen.
Liz is at Brady’s, too. I’ll meet you there.
Trust by Design Page 18