Page 70 of Secondhand Secrets

His rough and low voice added weight to his words, and his attention didn’t shift from the laptop in front of him. “Overton’s work. It’s disappearing.”

The man shot his gaze to Mark, his eyes wide and his jaw slack as he spun the laptop to face Mark. Line after line of code vanished, white space taking over where reams of precious information once lived.

“Fuck!” Mark shot out of his chair, his voice ricocheting within the room’s wide, glass walls. “Overton knows.”

The five others around him stood. His most trusted associates. Each one in on the plan to seize Chip and Stonewall. Meanwhile, the candidate fell silent, her gaze sweeping over the group of suddenly animated people.

He stabbed a finger at his tech lead. “Save what you can.”

The man’s blank stare confirmed what Mark already knew. There wasn’t much to save. And still, he barked out a final order. “Now!” As if demanding the impossible would salvage his fast-sinking dreams. No, he’d sought to avoid Luciano’s more brutish methods. Tried civilized over barbaric. But this world was not a civil place, and Rudolph Manzinni would not forgive repeated failure.

That disappearing code took away Mark’s chances of breaking even with the Syndicate, much less the money he’d already sunk into buying Encode. And then there was protecting his family and redeeming everyone’s broken dignity.

But now, dignity only sank deeper into the gutter, and that was all Chip Overton’s fault. Mark would have no choice but to set new rules.

Cruel incentives to force Chip on board.

“Find out where Chip Overton is and find the woman who accompanied him to last night’s gala. She’s our leverage.” He addressed his head of security while storming out the boardroom, his team of five already sticking close, and leaving the gawping female candidate behind. “Take no shortcuts. Spare nothing and nobody. Just find them. You hear me? He’ll do what I say or lose everyone he cares about. His woman dies first.”

Thirty-Four

Just once, I want to know what it’s like to fall in love. Even better, to have someone love me back. Is that too much to ask?

Ally’s past words to Chip haunted her into closing her eyes, the way-too-happy Harlow sun beating down on her through the bus window. Her elbow dug into the ledge, and she pressed her forehead to the warm glass, dejected because she had asked too much. She’d fallen in love, been loved, and would now do anything to hand those feelings back.

Those feelings hurt like a knife twisting in her chest, not even the act of breathing came as easily as it once had. So no, she didn’t want love. Love cost too much. She just wanted her old naivety and ignorance back.

By now, Chip’s presentation would be over, and he’d know she’d left. Her next breath shuddered into her, and she flung her eyes open, hoping the golden fields flicking by could distract from her pain and shame. No matter how well-intended, she’d betrayed him.

She wouldn’t be there to congratulate him. To comfort him. Heck, she wouldn’t even be there to know how things had unfolded at Encode.

She simply wouldn’t be there.

The bus rounded into the small parking lot behind Main Street, the brakes hissing at the stop next to the post office. Soon, the driver launched from his seat and down the few stairs leading out the side door.

As he’d done for other disembarking passengers, he’d pull her suitcase out from the undercarriage, and she’d be forced to call her parents to come and pick her up.

But maybe she’d dawdle for a while first.

Kinda as she’d done since leaving Boston airport.

Not once had she picked up her phone to let anyone in Harlow know of her return. The thought of having to explain, of having to admit her failure. Her throat clogged up, and new tears sprung to her eyes every time she tried to use her phone.

What a weird twist in events. She—Ally Egan—succeeding in business, while deficient at love. How had that happened? Her return to Harlow would be a return to square one. Alone. This time, far more damaged.

She pushed to standing and ambled down the bus’s aisle, her slowed journey an attempt to delay the moment her feet hit Harlow soil. But all too quickly, she was outside in the mostly empty parking lot, hugging her purse and squinting against the sun. The driver returned to the bus and the vehicle rumbled away.

Only one thing to do now. Call home.

She rummaged through her purse in search of her phone, and in her peripheral vision, a white car drove up the parking lot ramp and snaked through the wide-open space, only to stop before her.

She lowered her purse and stepped back. Whoever drove had their pick of spots, so why park in front of her? The passenger window slid open to reveal her answer, Sarah leaning across a beige middle console to address her. “Get in.”

Ally frowned at the short demand. She’d seen Chip’s missed calls. Did her silence not speak loud enough? One thing was certain, she wouldn’t let his sister guilt her into changing her mind.

“No.” She went about stabbing at the icons on her phone’s screen. “I’m fine right here, thanks.”

“Ally, I don’t care what’s happening between you and Chip. Just get in.” Sarah reached across and tugged the inner door handle before pushing the whole thing open, an action designed to prod Ally into doing Sarah’s bidding.

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