Page 145 of The Billionaire's Wedding

It’s a room on the main deck, beneath the bridge. I’ve seen a guy going in with a laptop, then he left without it. I got a glimpse of what I think might be Lily and Sebastian.

“Can we see?” I asked, my voice desperate.

I wish I could rewind their tape and show you the recording, but to do that, I’d have to take over their system, and they would know I’m there. I can use my own computer to record everything we see from this point onward, but I can’t show you what I saw without triggering their alarms. I’m sorry.

“Don’t be,” I said. “Just knowing they’re alive is enough.”

Johnny pointed at the red circle. “That’s where we’re headed when we board the ship, then. Eve – you said you don’t want to let them know you’re there, but is there any way you can run interference for us once we’re onboard? Turn off the lights, shut off the power, that sort of thing?”

Maybe. I’m writing a remote access program I’m going to sneak into their system. If it works, I’ll be able to override their ability to turn off the satellite link or kick me out, and in that case I might be able to take over the ship. But you can’t count on that.

“Alright,” Johnny said. “We’ll hope for the best, but prepare for the worst. But just having all this preliminary intel is fantastic.”

Um… Connor? I’ve got some bad news.

“Is it about Lily?” I asked, my heart suddenly jumping into my throat.

No, nothing about her. But they’re accessing your company’s servers – lots of them. Bank accounts, too.

“What?!” I barked.

They’re not hacking anything, either. They appear to have the passwords.

“How the hell – ”

“Sebastian,” Johnny realized.

“What?”

“He’s the only person who would know,” Johnny pointed out. “They’re probably holding a gun on him, making him give them access to everything in your company.”

“Or they paid him,” Leo suggested.

“No,” I said, more sure of that answer than anything else in my life. “If Sebastian’s helping them, it’s because they’re threatening him.”

“Or Lily,” Johnny said quietly.

My stomach knotted up even tighter. “…or Lily.”

I could block whatever he’s doing,Eve offered. But if I do that –

“They’d know we’re watching,” I said.

Yes.

“And shut you down.”

Probably. Even if they couldn’t, we would definitely lose the element of surprise.

I had no idea what Miranda was having Sebastian do. It could be sabotage, espionage, or theft, on an order of magnitude no company had ever experienced in all of human history. The damage could total in the billions. Maybe the tens of billions.

Yet there wasn’t even a question in my mind.

“Let them do whatever they’re doing and don’t interfere,” I said. “The number one priority is not to let them know we’re watching.”

Johnny looked at me from the corner of his eye. “You sure?”

“We’ll worry about what Miranda’s done after we get Lily and Sebastian back. Nothing else matters till that happens.”

“So what’s the plan?” Juan asked.

“Get aboard, find Lily and Sebastian, then commandeer the ship,” Johnny said.

“And kill anybody who gets in your way,” I added.

Juan nodded. “Sounds like my kind of plan.”

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