Of course the moment I’d made an internal proclamation, my phone rang with my sister’s number. “What’s up, Jesse?”
I continued to work as her voice came across alarmed, and she spoke all jumbled. “Take a deep breath, Jesse, and hold it for a minute. You’re not making any sense.”
She did as I asked before calming down. “Dad noticed some of the letters were missing from his desk and started on a rampage to find out where they went. Mom admitted to letting me have them and that I sent them to you.” There was a long pause before she finally divulged, “He knows you’re in New York and whom you’re guarding.”
“Shit.” I hadn’t meant to say the word aloud, but I did.
Jesse took a deep breath and stated matter-of-factly, “You’re telling me, Kenna. We weren’t the ones to tell him the last part. He went to Mr. Prescott’s office to see if he could coerce either him or Rick into giving up your location and your mission’s details.
“Rick stated that he, Mr. Prescott, Jackson, and Mr. Lombardi were all meeting in the conference room with the door open to discuss the status so far, and he just about flipped out. Dad, Jackson, and Mr. Lombardi ended up in a verbal confrontation that had Rick calling for backup, threatening to throw every one of them out of the building until they calmed down.”
I rubbed my temples with both hands as I watched my computer screen plug away at the commands I’d given it. “Let me guess, he’s demanding I be pulled from the case. He doesn’t care if this is what I want, that it’s my job, or that I’ve reignited my feelings for Marcus.” The words tumbled quickly from my mouth. It was all I could do not to shout them or start crying. I was finally finding happiness again and my father was right there to destroy it, just like he’d controlled every other aspect in my life.
“You’re feeling affectionate toward Marcus again?” My sister was always focused on me being happy, which was one of the reasons I loved her so much.
I managed to somehow keep my voice down through my rant. “That’s all you got out of that?”
“I can tell you’re pissed as hell at our father for trying to control your life again. But you should know that every one of those men stood up for you. Of course, I got my information from Rick because he was on speaker with Derrick, asking if I’d give you a heads-up. I’m guessing he felt a close family member would be best.”
One thing my sister was good at was running circles around the point before finally getting to it. “And?” I had to question.
“Every one of them insisted you are a grown woman capable of taking care of yourself. They explained it was time for him to cut the strings and let you find your own way. Heck, you’ve been doing that for the past five years. It’s about time someone put Dad in his place and told him to back the hell off.” She started rambling again.
I was about to call her on her tangents, when she added, “Rick said there’s no way in hell he was pulling you from the case. He felt you were on the verge of a breakthrough with the information you’d requested. Of course Dad argued that you didn’t need to be around ‘that troublemaker Marcus,’ his words not mine. Everyone stood up for both of you on that count. Jackson stated Marcus has never stopped loving you, for which Mr. Lombardi and Mr. Prescott agreed. Heck, even Rick admitted to me that you two seemed to be hitting it off, and it was obvious in the little time he’s conversed with Marcus that he is one hundred percent head-over-heels in love with you.”
My heart was overjoyed at the news Marcus still loved me, and I felt myself smile almost ear to ear. I was about to comment on just how amazing he’d made me feel today, when my attention was diverted to the computer screen. There was unusual activity happening on one of the partner’s computers at Marcus’s former workplace. “Listen, sis. I’d love to spend the next couple of hours talking with you and getting your thoughts on things, but I need to go. There’s something fishy going on with my computer, and I need to check it out. Thanks for the heads-up on Dad. I’m probably going to temporarily block his number, but let Mom know she can get in touch with me if she needs to.”
“I’ll do that. Just know that we support whatever your heart desires. I’ll give you the same advice you gave me with Derrick: give him a chance. As for Dad, let’s just say Mom’s already playing hardball with him, limiting his playtime if he doesn’t behave.” Jesse got a big case of the giggles.
“TMI, sis, TMI. I don’t need to know nor do I want to know anything about our parents’ sex life. As far as I’m concerned, we were either brought by the stork or conceived in test tubes.” I tried to mentally scrub the image that had flashed in my mind with cleanser and a brush. Just the idea of my parents being together was enough to give me the willies.
“Later, sis.” She was gone before I could say my goodbye, but I guess the baby crying in the background redirected her focus.
As if on cue, my phone began to ring again, and this time it was my father. I answered, but I didn’t give him the chance to speak, because frankly, I was tired of hearing him try to manipulate me. “I’m not going to give you the satisfaction of listening to a speech you rehearsed in your head, trying to persuade me one direction or another. I told you back when I graduated college that you no longer controlled my life, and it still applies. I love you, Dad, but until you can accept that only I will make decisions about my future, we have nothing to talk about. Consider yourself blocked.”
I almost hung up, but my father quickly started spouting off insane accusations. “You have no idea of the ways of the world. You’d do best to mind your manners and respect your parents. You are not to stay in New York with that hoodlum. You are to leave immediately, young lady!” I could tell from his voice that he’d worked himself up to a fever pitch, and I couldn’t stand to listen any longer.
“Wrong!” I yelled back, before disengaging the call and blocking his ass.
I knew it was wrong to be this way toward him, but I still had a case to handle. I was running out of time to help Marcus, and I wanted to spend as much time as I could with him to see where things would lead once this was over.
For now, my dad could just take a chill pill. Did I want him in my life? Of course I did. But I wouldn’t let him run roughshod over my existence just to make him happy. For some reason, he’d never liked Marcus and me together. Truth be told, I think he’d object to any man I was interested in. Heck, he didn’t even want Jesse around Derrick until she pitched a fit, and their life has turned out just fine. I’d talk to my father eventually, but now my priority had to be on the man who’d always been there for me, even when I didn’t realize it.
I pushed the negative feelings I had aside and continued to watch the flurry of activity on the computer screen in front of me. I’d initially logged into to the W.H.A.T. financial server again to look for something else, but I’d soon found the links to Damien’s and Dominic’s computers. Damien’s hadn’t had too much information on it, almost looking like he’d been given a new system recently, since all of the files dated back only a couple weeks. But I had copied a few things that garnered further inspection, as a safety.
Dominic’s computer had initially been turned off, but had come to life while I was talking to Jesse. That’s what grabbed my attention.
I saw what the person was doing on the other end of things, and it didn’t look good. They grabbed files left and right from different areas on their system and moved things over to the trash bin. I made a quick copy of all the files in the bin before the user attempted to delete them.
Internally, I laughed. After all the shows on television and talk of things never truly being deleted from a computer, you’d think people would learn, but whoever was trying to get rid of these files was definitely attempting to destroy evidence.
Working quickly, I tapped into the video feed in the office and found the camera aimed at Dominic Andrews’s desk. I hadn’t been expecting to find what I did. There wasn’t just one, but two people behind the desk, looking at the computer and doing away with as much incrimina
ting data as possible. A father and son duo.
I’d wait until they were done with the computer to sever the link to the system and from the video feed I was now recording. I wanted to make sure I had everything, and I didn’t want to cause any suspicion when I exited out of their system. Being attached to the server wasn’t a big issue, but if I disengaged from the personal computer while they were still looking at the screen, let’s just say they might question the little flicker on the screen.
I was thankful Marcus wasn’t in here to watch all of this. Otherwise he would be furious as hell. According to him, they’d never worked together and, therefore, there shouldn’t be any animosity between them, so why had they unloaded everything on him to take the fall? It didn’t add up. But every single file they were trying to destroy was a copy of each client Marcus was guilty of pilfering funds from, along with other defamatory details.
The lawyer would be getting a call either later today or first thing tomorrow. With all this new information, it should be enough to question the validity of the charges against Marcus. I just hoped I had answers as to why he was set up to be the fall guy, and it looked like I would when I realized they were trying to destroy the video footage they’d pulled from the main server, clearly marked as Marcus Lombardi Office Surveillance. My guess was they were the ones to butcher the footage, making it look like he was guilty. The copy that was hidden on the server was enlightening, but I wondered why they had this version on Dominic’s personal system? I’d have to look through it to find out and see if there were any differences.
Before logging off the server, I dropped in on the HR files and made copies of several people in question, and then searched through some of the partners’ internal e-mails to one another.
Maybe with all these computer records, Sophia’s background checks, and some new financial leads for Ethan, we’d blow this case wide open and not only exonerate Marcus of any criminal activity but also catch the culprit in the process. Was it Dominic and Damien? They appeared to be destroying evidence, or had they been set up too?
Looks like my afternoon just got busier. Now the only question was how to keep Marcus occupied so I could look through everything without raising suspicion. Admittedly, it was tough to think with him around. There was a strong pull between us, and unless we could distance ourselves, I didn’t see how we’d be successful in accomplishing our goals.
After getting up from behind Marcus’s desk, I ventured out into the kitchen to get some more iced mocha coffee. I needed a caffeine buzz to get through all the files I’d just scored.
I caught Kyle finishing up his food while sitting at the bar area of the kitchen. “Man, these are the best. How did you learn to cook like that?”
Marcus quickly responded, “My family owns several restaurants. Plus, I was brought up surrounded by cooking, so I learned at an early age and just never forgot.”
Hearing him talk about his family made me miss seeing all of them, except for his dad. Mr. Lombardi was just like my father, always trying to control his children. I was still shocked he’d insisted either Marcus work for the family’s business or he wasn’t part of the family.
We’d both chosen to cut ties with our families in order to find happiness. At least it sounded like Mr. Lombardi was willing to defend his son and take him back, whereas my father was just being a dick of magnanimous proportions. He was always spouting off some mumbo-jumbo about parents needing to let their children learn to succeed and fail on their own, yet he couldn’t practice what he preached when it came to his own kids. Maybe Mom could talk some sense into that thick skull of his.
I was lost in thought as Marcus asked, “Did you need something, Kenna?”
His words caught me off guard, and I jumped. Holding my hand to my chest, I admitted, “I could really use an iced coffee to help keep me awake as I sort through all that boring video footage.” I tried to make it sound as uninteresting as possible, hoping he’d offer to stay in the kitchen and keep busy. “Will you be in here much longer?”
Kyle thanked Marcus again for the food and said he’d send Spencer in to eat next. Marcus started reheating the pans on the stove as he started cooking up a new batch of pancakes and made my coffee all at the same time. He truly was awe-inspiring in the kitchen; it almost seemed he was dancing a well-choreographed work of art as he moved this way and that while preparing everyone nourishment.
Spencer came in and commented how amazing the air smelled and how his mouth already started to water, causing all of us to laugh out loud.
Marcus was so caught up with taking care of things in the kitchen he hadn’t answered my question, so I asked again, “How long do you think you’ll be in the kitchen?”
His eyes focused intently on mine. I could tell he was trying to see if there was any hidden agenda, like another round of desk sex Olympics. When he didn’t find what he was looking for, he asked, “Did you need me for anything?”
I shook my head. “No, was just asking. Take your time and talk with Spencer if you like. I have a ton of things to look at, and the video will be monotonous at best. I can leave a list of things I need you to look at later, and we can compare them to some information I recently discovered to see if anything stands out.”
Thankfully, he didn’t argue with me. “I’ll finish getting Spencer some food, probably prep for dinner tonight, since the meat needs to marinate for a couple hours, before coming back in to help you out.” His eyebrows lifted as his head gave me a nod. “You’ll let me know if you need me before then?”
“Definitely,” I replied with a thumb up and a smile, before heading back to his office.
I pushed the door partially closed and began searching through the video I’d obtained from Mr. Andrews’s computer. It didn’t take long to discover Marcus had indeed left the office as he stated, and Damien went into this space and did something on the computer. This occurred repeatedly over the course of several weeks.
The video file off of Mr. Andrews’s computer was in its entirety, while the one submitted as evidence had pieces missing, ones where someone else was in Marcus’s office using his system.
I reasoned that the camera pointed at his computer was at such an angle one would be able to determine the password, especially if you zoomed in. My breadth caught when I realized what the password was: SubmissiveKenna#69. The man truly had not forgotten me or about my preferred way to get each other off quickly.
What was unsettling was how all the other offices I’d popped into via video feed had the cameras at a wide angle, taking in the whole office, while Marcus’s was set directly on the computer screen and keys. Someone had to have replaced the lens or moved it to get the level of detail they’d acquired.
I continued to watch and discovered a couple of other individuals I hadn’t accounted for, which made me start to question why they were involved. I’d have to cross-reference some files to see if there were any connections between these people. Just when I thought I had everything almost figured out, a new twist popped up. This case was more than a puzzle; it was a freaking labyrinth in which there was no end in sight.
A couple hours later, I had enough proof to show that Marcus couldn’t have been the one caught up in this scheme. There was no physical way he could be in two places at the same time.
On further inspection of Dominic’s computer, I discovered a file that was a freaking nightmare to view. It made my eyes go cross just trying to see it. Yet, there was something familiar about the way the lines bent this way and that.
On a hunch, I copied and pasted the file in a filtered layer over the cut video footage incriminating Marcus. Holy mother of . . . I couldn’t believe what I saw with my own two eyes. The two files merged together created the scrambled footage we’d received.
I quickly realized the jumbled file must have been provided in error. It definitely hid more than video footage.
My focus turned to the new file that was obviously encrypted. Maybe if I played around with it, having only th
e one file to navigate, I would be able to see what was so critical they tried to delete it.
Plugging in a couple of codes here and there, I watched as the jumbled mess began to take shape in the forms of names, account numbers, monetary values, and a whole hoard of details we needed. I wanted to fist pump the air and shout at finding something of value. However, I couldn’t, not yet anyway. I would need Ethan’s or Sophia’s assistance in verifying the numbers I was looking at. But I believe I might have just stumbled onto where all the money went and how to potentially get it back.
Needing a break from combing through all the video files and twisted up mess, I decided to hop onto the dark web with a hunch I wanted to check out. I noticed a transfer of funds from personal accounts within the financial group, by two different people, right around the same time frame the shooter had popped up. The FBI and Ethan hadn’t had any luck in finding out much about the sniper other than his identity.
I logged in to my online identity of DeadlyVixen77 and started connecting with some so-called friends. I’d never met them, but Titan occasionally needed information that wasn’t easy to come by, so Sophia, Ethan, and I all created faux logins and have been working the dark web for some time now, building up trust amongst other skilled computer experts and hackers.
Putting out the message:
DeadlyVixen77: Have a problem that needs to be taken out in NYC.
ViperStrike99: Hey, Vix. Long time no see. What’s the problem?
DeadlyVixen77: Hey, Vipe! Ex-boyfriend keeps trashing my place and leaving his marks on me. Keeps threatening my life. No help from the cops.
ViperStrike99: You want him shown a lesson or a no-show for life?
The dark web never surprised me. If you needed details on hidden money, needed to offload something quickly, required a quick escape, or whatever dark thing you could think up, someone out there could help you. It offered anything anyone could think of, including personal data, credit card information, alternate identification . . . you name it. Here was my chance to find out more. I was just thankful it was someone I’d interacted with before.
Makenna's Trust: Titan Security Series #3 Page 19