by Tiana Cole
“I completely understand,” Ayden said to her through a grin as he turned, walking back towards his waiting ride. Halfway to the vehicle he slowed, and threw the words over his shoulder that had her heart doing tiny flips in her chest all over again. “But that doesn’t mean I’m going to stop trying.”
Chapter 4
The next day dawned bright and early. Well, early for Alicia, as she finally dragged herself out of bed around eleven and threw on her jeans and t-shirt, ready to head into the office and face the mountains of code ahead of her. The prospect thrilled her and she relished the challenge of being on the cusp of innovating something new and exciting.
With that thought firmly in her mind, she downed a cup of black coffee, finger combed her short bob into place and headed downstairs. She looked blankly at the empty parking space for a moment before realizing that her car was still parked at the office.
Ayden had given her a ride home the night before in his limo. She snorted softly at the silliness of it but couldn’t deny she had been utterly charmed by him. And Alicia knew that was a dangerous place to be.
She recalled his parting words and shivered slightly, even though she wasn’t sure why. Maybe it was the promise in them, or the threat, depending how she looked at it. Or maybe it had been the absolute confidence in his voice or the heat searing at her from the depths of his ocean blue eyes. The man really was too dangerous to be around.
With a sigh, she dug her cell out of the giant bag she was holding and a few minutes later jumped in the cab that pulled in front shortly after that.
Alicia arrived at he office ready for the day, her thoughts already tumbling forward towards what starting such a massive website would entail, not noticing the giant bouquet of flowers sitting on the front desk as she swept past them. It was actually the scent she noticed first, something spicy and tropical with just a hint of sweetness.
“Hey, what is that amazing smell?” she said, finally looking around her, her dark brown gaze zeroing in on the gorgeous arrangement of flowers sitting on the desk. Alicia walked over and inhaled their heavenly scent before searching for a card. She looked around confused as she found nothing to note who had sent them. “Hi Marcus. Was there a card or anything with this?”
Marcus opened his mouth to answer, already shaking his head when Nora swept by, grabbing something from the mass of piled papers on his desk. The assistant handed the card over with a smile.
“It was from that handsome man. The one that was here yesterday!” Nora smiled at her and the kind, grandmotherly expression caught her off guard for a moment. She’d never had a grandmother, but if she did, she would have wished for her to be someone like Nora. Sweet and so kind, but with a streak of mischief a mile wide even at her age.
Alicia took the card and tore it open, anticipating and dreading what it would say all at the same time. Dear Alicia, I had an amazing time last night. I hope these remind you of me, as they reminded me of you. Bright, beautiful, and unexpected.
Alicia read it again, and then one more time. And then once again because she just couldn’t help it. It was simple and sweet and she could just picture the lopsided smile drawing across his handsome face as he wrote it in his scrawling handwriting.
***
Every day for the next two weeks, another gorgeous arrangement of flowers arrived at her office accompanied by a sometimes sweet, sometimes funny, sometimes downright naughty note. She tried her best to ignore them, but it became more and more impossible as their office started to look more and more like a floral shop than a computer programming base.
So Alicia threw herself into work, anything to distract herself from the man who would pop into her mind at the oddest times. Whenever she gave herself a moment to stop, he was there waiting for her.
Sometimes he would call her to talk over how the site was coming along and others he would just call to chat. It was those occasions that threw her for a loop. She had told him that she made a policy of not mixing business with pleasure, but he just didn’t seem to get the message. Or, he was just very good at ignoring it.
Eventually, she knew she would have to face him again. He was her client after all. That day finally came when he called to announce that he would be coming with some of the heads of department from his company to see how progress was going. A thrill shot through her at the prospect of showing off all of her hard work to them, but especially Ayden.
She was incredibly proud of the breakthroughs she’d had so far and was excited to share them. The only downside was that she would have to finally come face to face with Ayden. What was she going to say?
Just ignore all the flowers and secret notes? Just forget all of the tension and chemistry bubbling like an active volcano between them? Yes. Because she had come too far and worked too hard to do anything else. She would put on a killer presentation and knock the socks off of Ayden, and anyone else he was bringing with. A savage grin spread across her face as her fingers flew across the keyboard, the sound of it echoing through the office. She couldn’t wait.
***
Marcus glanced at his watch, and then at the line of brake lights illuminated in front of him. Traffic in LA was never great, but for some reason it seemed like today was going to be even worse. He had ten minutes to get to Alicia’s office for the presentation and he had really wanted to show up early before the rest of his team.
He had wanted a moment to talk alone with her, but the rate the cars ahead of him were going he wouldn’t have that chance. If they were going any slower they’d be driving backwards.
Slowly, painfully, he made his way out of downtown and into the sprawl of the city, arriving at Alicia’s office building just a bare minute before the presentation was supposed to start.
He could see everyone else standing towards the far end of the room where there were chairs and a projector screen already set up and ready for them. His head of marketing and the design team were both there as well.
Ayden took a step in their direction when a large shape in his path stopped him. He looked down at the finger pointed at his chest and followed it up to the red-faced young man who he was pretty sure worked as an assistant programmer for Alicia.
“Ah, Matthew, right?” he said, holding out his hand. He glanced longingly at Alicia, laughing with his top two execs. They were already half in love with her. He knew the feeling.
“It’s Marcus, actually,” the man said, catching his attention once more.
“Right, or course, Marcus. Well, I’m almost late for that meeting so I better–”
“You need to stop sending flowers,” his harsh, nasal voice interrupted him and it took him a moment to understand the other man’s words.
“I’m sorry, what was that?”
“You need to stop sending Alicia flowers. She’s not your girlfriend.” Ayden stared at Marcus for a long moment before he could even get any words out.
“And what are you saying, she’s your girlfriend?” Ayden scoffed as the other man narrowed his eyes.
“Well, actually, she is!” Marcus’ muddy green eyes clashed with his own. This guy was obviously delusional, or maybe he was just trying to look out for his boss. That seemed like the most rational solution, and made way more sense than a knock out like Alicia dating this…this guy. But there was something in his eyes that stopped Ayden from laughing outright. A seriousness, a fanatical light, that told him that at least a small part of Marcus believed what he was saying.
Ayden took a step back, looking longingly towards group of people waiting for him.
“Listen, I know you’re probably just trying to look out for your boss, but it’s really none of your business.”
“Of course it is! Why do people keep saying that?” Marcus sneered, the light in his eyes growing just a little wilder.
“Hey, it’s fine. Just a misunderstanding, all right?”
“Ayden?” Alicia’s voice stopped him from having to say anything more and he sighed in relief as he turned away from the petula
nt employee. He would have to warn Alicia to watch out for that one. There was something just a little off about Marcus, and he always prided himself on being an excellent judge of character.
“Hey Alicia, I–”
“Um, are you ready for the meeting? Because, I think we are just about ready to get things started,” Alicia jumped in again, and he let it go, partly because that guy Marcus was still standing there, staring at him like a hawk, but mostly because he could see the desire in her eyes to keep things professional. He could oblige her, for the time being. But his time would come. He was sure of that. Persistence always won out in the end.
With a smile plastered on his face he followed Alicia over to the large round table that he remembered so well from their last meeting here.
He couldn’t help but take advantage of the opportunity to steal a glance at her as she walked over the projector that was hooked up to the laptop she had on a shelf. As she pulled up the files, his gaze swept up and down her figure, taking in the way the dress she was wearing, grey this time instead of black, seemed made to fit her curves perfectly and it made his mouth water and his hands itch to feel them for himself.
Get a grip, Ayden, he chastised himself as the rest of the team chatted over recent developments with the marketing campaign they were developing. They would launch the campaign in a few short months to start generating buzz about the program, and he had to admit he was excited to see what Alicia had for them.
Chapter 5
Alicia pulled up the temporary website address on her secure server and immediately knew something was wrong. It took her a moment to realize what it was exactly, but when she did, her heart sank. It felt like a pound of bricks had just been piled on top of her and a fine sheen of sweat broke out on her forehead.
How the hell could this have happened? She had been so nervous about seeing Ayden again that she hadn’t even thought to check the files that she’d worked on just that morning.
“Hey, is everything alright?” She heard Ayden’s voice as if from a great distance as her focus narrowed in on the code as she puled up program after program, looking for the problem.
“Uh huh. Just give me one minute guys.” She sent them a nervous smile, but all the while her stomach twisted into tighter and tighter knots.
This was impossible, utterly impossible. A huge part of the code was just gone. Completely missing. All of the late, late nights and hours upon hours of work erased.
“I don’t understand. I just don’t understand. It’s a secure server. No one should be able to have access to this.” She didn’t realize she’d said the words out loud until Ayden spoke at her shoulder, making her jump in surprise.
“Hey, whoa. It’s okay, calm down. Just tell me what happened.” His soothing voice calmed her and she took a small step back from the panic attack she was just about to fly into.
“Something…happened,” she managed to say, her mind completely on trying to figure out just how something like this had even happened in the first place, and desperately trying to recover the lost data.
“Yes, I can see that. What exactly did happen, Alicia?” His tone sounded more concerned and she realized that no matter what, he was still her client and he deserved a straight answer. He deserved to know the truth. But damn, she just didn’t want to say it out loud. Didn’t want to make it real.
“I think…Well, I’m not totally sure yet how, but almost half of the code for the online server is just…missing. It’s like… it’s like someone went in with an eraser and just deleted it all. I don’t understand. I was just working on it this morning and it was fine! It’s on a secure server, only someone with serious skills could hack past those firewalls.”
“Wait a minute, are you saying someone did this intentionally?” Ayden looked aghast and confused all at once, and she completely understood.
“Yes, someone definitely had to know what they were looking for and exactly what they intended. This wasn’t a mistake, or an accident. There is way too much data lost for that. It was intentional. Someone wanted to stall the project.” Alicia said it all in a rush, trying to stem the flood of heartbreak that was wreaking havoc through her.
She knew it was silly, but she thought of each program like a person almost. It had its own quirks, its own temperament and characters. Goals and needs. And she was one who put it all together to make one, cohesive entity. That someone would try and destroy that was painful and absolutely baffling to her.
“Who would do something like this? It doesn’t make sense.” Alicia knew she was repeating herself, but she couldn’t help it. It was all like all the synapsis in her brain were misfiring. The world had suddenly tipped on its side leaving her exactly were she was and nothing made sense anymore. She took a deep breath, trying to get herself under control.
“Is there any way to…oh, I don’t know, recover the lost code, or maybe track whoever did it?” There was an edge to Ayden’s voice that had her glancing up at him. For the first time, she saw where he got his reputations as a tough business man. She took another deep breath.
“I’m not sure, but I can sure as hell try.” Alicia grabbed the laptop and took it over the table, ignoring all the looks from Ayden’s executive’s and even the stares from Marcus and Nora, who could tell that something was wrong, even though they weren’t sure what.
She immediately got to work, typing so fast her fingers were a blur as she tried every trick she knew to recover the lost data. But it was completely wiped. It was like it had never even been there in the first place, except she could see the giant gaps where it should be, like black holes dotting a galaxy of ones and zeroes.
When that failed, she tried to find any rabbit holes or tell tale signs of who had been there, any clue as to what had happened. But every trail just led to a dead end. Whoever had done this had been good, very good. It would take an extremely talented hacker to break through her secure server to even access the information, let alone navigate her complicated style of coding.
A sneaking suspicion began to form but she shoved away as she continued to type, to search and hunt for any other explanation. The suspicion continued to grow until it bloomed into a full blown mental condemnation but she shoved it away. It was impossible. And yet, it would be so much easier for someone to hack in and destroy the data from the inside. If they already had access to her computer, her passwords, her security information.
But it still didn’t make sense to her. Who in her company would try and sabotage the project that would make their business even more successful? This was the job they had all been working towards for so many years, slaving for. It was just beyond her imagining that any of her team would stoop to something like that. Something just wasn’t adding up.
“Any luck?” Ayden sat down next to her with a plop as he leaned over her shoulder before shaking his head at the incomprehensible string of numbers on the screen. “That makes absolutely no sense to me.”
“I know. It’s terrible. Who would do something like this?” Alicia asked, still feeling her heart close to shattering in her chest over the lost work.
“Oh no, that I understand perfectly. Obviously, someone doesn’t want this job to be successful.” He shrugged as if it were the most natural thing in the world, even though the hard light in his eyes gave tell to his anger over the set back. “The numbers, the code, whatever magic it is that you wield. I just can’t wrap my head around it. It looks totally random to me.”
“Random?” Alicia gasped at him, thankful to have something to distract her from the nauseous feeling rocking in her stomach. “This isn’t random at all. It’s like a language. If you don’t know a language and look at their alphabet it might look random to you, but actually each symbol has a special meaning. And you put those symbols together to create a larger message, a cohesive story. That all I’m doing.”
“You make it sound so simple,” Ayden said with a wondering look.
“Not simple,” she said with a short laugh, “it’s vast and com
plicated and you never know what’s going to happen next.”
“Like having your work erased,” Ayden said, his expression once more dead serious. That feeling was back in her stomach and she swallowed hard as she nodded.
“Yeah, like that.”
Ayden was silent for a long moment before he finally spoke again. “Listen, I’m obviously no expert on computer programming, but I do know business, and I’m no stranger to sabotage. This isn’t the first time someone has tried to get in the way of my dream and I doubt it will be the last but, I’ve given it some thought and…” His words trailed off as he looked around uneasily.
“What? And what?” Alicia finally said when he was silent for so long she thought he might not finish his thought. “Just tell me!”
“Well, from everything that you’ve said about it being a secure server and almost impossible to hack from the outside, I was just wondering… Well, the thought occurred to me that maybe the attack didn’t come from the outside.”
Her heart sank at his words, a reflection of her earlier thoughts.
“No. No way. It’s impossible. Why would anyone of my team try and undercut the project like that? They all know how much it means to me and to the company,” Alicia protested, shaking her head. But even to her, the words sounded weak, like justifications because she didn’t want to accept what was right in front of her.
“There’s no way to prove who did this?” Ayden finally asked after another lengthy silence.
“Not unless someone confesses, no. There is no trace anywhere. And believe me, if there were, I would find it, and track down whoever did this, and make sure that they….”
“Okay, okay Mad Max, just calm down there.” Ayden placed his hand over hers, squeezing it in reassurance.
“Hey guys! I know what happened!” Marcus voice was overly loud and Alicia jumped to realize he was standing right behind them, for who knows how long. He cast a pointed look at their hands, still entwined together on the table top and Alicia surreptitiously tried to take hers away but Ayden tightened his grasp, not letting her go. And she found she didn’t really want to. There was strength there that she really needed at that moment, and so she left it, instead just turning her body so she could face Marcus.