Page 90 of Bind Me
“She kept reaching for you.”
Rafael’s fingers stilled on her earlobe. “Who?”
“The stand-in for Laurent.” Bea’s cheeks warmed. He continued his caressing, and she caved a little more. “Your arm. Your mug.”
“And that bothered you.”
“No,” she said automatically. It’s just that his triceps weren’t communal property.
Amusement caught at his mouth. One brow raised.
“Fine. A little,” Bea muttered. “I’m sittingright here. Position’s taken.”
His tongue found the inside of his cheek, a smile breaking through. “My wife is jealous.”
It was the first time she’d seen him smile all day. Worth the humiliation. Maybe.
“I just don’t like extra hands.”
“Then we agree. Only yours,” he said, hand cupping her face.
She poked her finger straight into the middle of his chest. “Correct.”
“Extra hands,” he repeated, focus snapping back. “No panel. One voice.”
Voices returned at the door, his team filtering back in.
He brushed her cheek briefly. “Don’t leave early.”
Chapter Twenty-Six
“Please tell me one of you has good news, because I’ve already imagined fourteen ways this could get worse,” Bea said.
Rafael stood by the windows, one hand in his pocket. From the angle of his shoulders alone, Bea could tell he was carrying enough fury to light the entire GV tower.
Jaxon cleared his throat and rotated the tablet toward her.
The screen was filled with a forensic flow diagram mapping the movement of deposits and files across accounts, companies, and jurisdictions.
Bea shifted forward in her chair. Numbers flipped a switch in her brain. Analyst mode: activated. “So Gavin pulled the hotel corridor export?”
“Yes,” Jaxon replied.
“But he didn’t send it out.”
“No,” Jaxon confirmed. “Someone else moved first.”
Rafael spoke. “I’ll pay Trenor a second visit.”
Max folded his hands. “Trenor stored it privately after the audit. It remained untouched until Mr. Fox’s assistant made contact, around the time of your wedding. Two days later,someone downloaded a copy through a VPN. That’s when the images were altered.”
“Do we know who altered them?”
“Fox’s brother-in-law. IT teacher at a public school. He also does freelance design specializing in AI.”
Bea blinked at him. “He confessed?”
Jaxon shook his head. “People lie. Their wallets tell the truth.”
