Page 71 of Soaring Free
Chapter forty-three
I’m not really in the mood to play poker, but I can’t keep hovering over Savannah and I need to talk to her brothers about this week’s latest bullshit. After everything that’s happened in the last few days, they agreed to move the game up to Saturday afternoon so Savannah and Vivian could hang out with all our girls and their dad at his place, and we would just be down the road at Ryan’s. Murphy has been extremely welcoming to both Gigi and me, and I’m sure she will have a blast with Savannah’s daughters and niece; she always does. We’re trying to shield the kids from the reality of what’s going on, but I also need to be able to process my rage.
Because I’m so far beyond fucking pissed off at whoever is messing with Savannah. But until we know who is behind all of this, I have to sit and pace with the rage as it boils and builds up inside me.
Three days ago was one of the best moments of my life when I told Savannah I loved her, and she also confessed she felt the same way. I felt like I was walking on sunshine and nothing would bring my mood down. Later that day, we made homemade pizza—and a disaster of my kitchen—with our girls and it was a glimpse of how great we could all be together. When I took her in my office the next day, I couldn’t believe how good things were going between us. Unfortunately, that great mood came crashing down with the force of a meteor colliding with the earth yesterday when Savannah returned home from dropping the girls off at school and going to a Pilates class. She planned to shower and get ready for the day, but when she walked into her bedroom,those plans came to a screeching halt at the sight of her bed covered in piles of feathers.
Someone had not only broken into her bedroom, but they had used some kind of blade or knife on the feather pillows on her bed, slashing them open and leaving puffs of downy stuffing everywhere. While the violent gesture was bad enough, my anger reached new depths when she explained in addition to someone violating her bedroom, they also left the drawers in her closet to her underwear and bras open, making it obvious they had been riffled through. Prior to this, she hadn’t mentioned that some of her underwear had gone missing, and I wish she would have told me that sooner.
I crack my neck and try to calm down before my rage consumes me. When Savannah called me and explained what happened, after we hung up, I was so pissed I swiped everything off my desk in a fit of rage. I’ll have to give Cian a bonus for dealing with that mess. Oh, and for replacing my computer monitor because after I cleared my desk, I threw a paperweight across my office and it bounced on the floor, shattering my computer screen. It wasn’t my proudest moment, but I don’t know who to channel my anger at about this because despite the connections we have between myself and her brothers, we cannot find any evidence of who’s behind this.
My dashboard alerts me to a new text as I park in Ryan’s driveway.
Savannah
Gigi wasn’t sure if you would allow her to have an ice cream sundae, so blame me if she wasn’t supposed to have it. Sugar happens when my girls are with their Papa.
Me
If she’s with you, you’re incharge. I trust you, Sav.
Savannah
I know you do, just wanted to tell you so she didn’t have to worry about it. She’s a good kid.
Me
Thanks, baby. Let me know if you need anything.
Savannah
Will do. Have fun! xoxo
As we wait for Walker and Finn to arrive, I should just hand them my money. There’s no way I can focus on the game with everything going on. Sitting at Ryan’s kitchen island, I slowly spin the beer bottle in my hands against the counter as Liam comes down the back set of stairs off the kitchen.
“Hey man, you good?” Liam asks as he sets a tablet next to me on the counter.
“Hey, I guess as good as I can be. Did you find anything?” I ask as Liam sets his drink down on the island and pulls up some video footage on his tablet.
“I didn’t find what I should have found, but I did find what they probably didn’t expect me to find,” Liam responds.
“Translate to non-spy talk, please,” Jack chimes in.
Liam sighs, clearly also frustrated with this situation. “When Shane and Savannah upgraded their system last year for everything that was going on with Vivian, there were specific parameters put in place that were above and beyond the typical security system. I personally referred the company that did the updates and I trust them.”
“Then why isn’t there any footage of who broke in or how they got into your sister’s house?” I ask point blank.
“Because this asshole is good. He had the same malware put on the system that he used with the auto shop incident. Basically, this code allows him to shut down the entire system, but theinternal system reads it as a standard update so no alarms should go off about it.”
“Should? Does that mean one did?” I ask.
“In a way. There wasn’t an alarm at the time of the incident, but one of the extra measures we put into place last year captures any code that comes across the system, not just the outcome of the code.”
“And that’s good?” Jack asks.
“Yes, that’s very good. We aren’t sure who the hacker is, but I now have their malware program coding. Every hacker has a signature and I just need to find it in the code. Unfortunately for them, I have some of the best hackers in the world currently working on breaking the code to figure out who is behind the malware,” Liam explains.
“If you have some of the best hackers in the world working on this, why isn’t it solved then?” Jack asks but I was wondering the same thing.
