Page 59 of Built to Last

“Well, I thought you would be smart enough to like put a little cover on the camera.” Jeremiah sounds prim. “Like a cap or something. Maybe some tape.”

“I was not thinking about the camera at the time,” Reid admits. “They’re easy to forget. You get used to them.”

“Anika says she texted you a code,” I tell Ivy.

It’s chaotic, and I should be way more upset. I’m more irritated than truly worried. I don’t want this to upset Ani, but honestly, I’m not ashamed of anything except not covering the camera. We should have thought about that.

“I don’t need a code,” Ivy says with a huff. “I’m already in, and I’ve got the login for the fucker who downloaded it. Tell her I’ll send it to her, and I’ve got some hacker friends who can probably figure out who this person sent it to.” She looks up with a frown. “Tell her I’ll handle it. Keeps the feds from coming after her. My friend might not be the most law abiding when it comes to information. Although… Hey, does diplomatic immunity cover this? Can we make me a duchess or something because it would free me up.”

I don’t think that’s how it works, but I agree with leaving Ani out of the less than legal parts. “Ivy’s got this and we’ll keep you up to date. I’m so sorry if this is going to cause you trouble. I would offer to fall on my sword…”

“You already fell on Reid’s,” Ani quips. “I’m not letting you quit, but it might be for the best if you hang in public and look like you’re together. We can add in a romantic subplot and all will be well. I’ll let you know what our lawyers say. It’s going to be okay, Harper.”

“I’ll do whatever you need me to,” I offer.

“Tell Ivy to send me that name so I can fire the asshole and then I don’t want to know what she does. If she can cut this thing off at the pass, I would love it. Remind her CeCe has a ton of lawyers who would find getting her out of jail genuinely amusing,” Anika says and then hangs up.

“It’s one of the assistant editors.” Ivy’s face is lit by the screen. “I’ve got his email and I’m in. Gosh, why do people bother doing criminal stuff if they’re not even going to try to hide their tracks? Huh. That’s weird.”

“You’re awfully calm.” Jeremiah’s arms are crossed over his chest. “I thought we were trying to avoid scandal.”

“I suppose I don’t think it’s all that scandalous. I was fucking my girlfriend. We do a mea culpa interview and we’re cool.” Reid huffs like he just thought of something. “We could get married and then it’s even more boring.”

“What?” Now I am shocked. Did those words come out of his mouth? “We can’t get married.”

“People have gotten married for worse reasons,” Reid replies.

“Name one,” I counter, my head still reeling.

“I don’t know. What was the last Dateline I watched?” he muses and then snaps his fingers. “Oh, yeah. Man marries an heiress and she mysteriously falls off a mountain on their honeymoon and he inherits everything. See. Worse reasons than publicity and saving some money on an apartment. Think about it. That building is expensive.”

“We’ve been casual for a month,” I point out.

Reid snorts. “Sure. We’ve spent pretty much every second of the day together, and then we go back to your place or my place. The only time we’re not together is when you have to go to a site to deal with your cousin’s screwups. And I offered to handle him for you.”

I can imagine how my cousin would deal with Reid Dorsey. I’m going to keep those two parts of my life separate. Especially since one of the two parts won’t be around forever and I’ll have to sink back into my real life. These days with Reid feel like a dream sometimes. Getting to work on this magnificent house is the same. I keep getting reminded I don’t belong in either world. Reid is joking with me. He has to be. “We’re not getting married because of a sex tape.”

“Of course you’re not,” Jeremiah says, and I swear he breathes a sigh of relief.

That stings, but I move on. “We do have to consider how this is going to affect us if it gets out in the public.”

“Already snagged it from the French magazine editor’s system.” Ivy never looks up. “I’m pretty sure I got every copy. They had it locked down, and I pulled some of the emails concerning it.”

“You what?” Jeremiah is staring at her like he can’t quite believe it.

“She’s good at her job,” I explain. “She’s been hacking systems since we were kids. I’m pretty sure I passed Spanish because of Ivy.”

“No, you magically made an A on your final,” Ivy shoots back. “Anyone read French? I think this email is about the tape. It’s from another company. Skonhet. Hmm. That doesn’t sound French, but the rest of the email is absolutely French. I think.”

The only other language Ivy speaks is code.

“It’s the Swedish word for beauty.” Reid looks grim as he replies.

“I told you she was planning something,” Jeremiah says under his breath.

“I’ll handle it.” Reid turns and starts to walk away.

I rush to catch up to him. “Hey, what’s going on?”

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