Total pages in book: 113
Estimated words: 107608 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 538(@200wpm)___ 430(@250wpm)___ 359(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 107608 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 538(@200wpm)___ 430(@250wpm)___ 359(@300wpm)
It’s not that I’m afraid of him or afraid of what he’ll do, or at least I comfort myself with that thought. I hit speed dial on my phone.
“Yo,” Ella says. “What’s up?”
“Hey, I need a favor. I have a damaged security disc, and I was hoping you could do your magic.”
Papers rustle over the line. “Security disc? From the last decade?”
“Well, seven years ago,” I say.
“Tell me more,” she says. “Is this about Alexei? Do you want me to get him convicted? I can do anything with a disc.”
I’m thankful she’s on my side in life. “No. I actually want you to fix it, like run one of your fancy programs or something. The recording is of the interior of the Fairfax house, and it might show the murder. But it’s corrupted.”
Her laugh is low and entertaining. I smile. There’s something about her laugh that has always been contagious.
“I don’t know what I’ll have to do, but I’m happy to look at your corrupted disc and see if there’s a program I can create or use, to get what’s on it. Though, I need to ask you, what if I find a video of Alexei killing David Fairfax?”
“You won’t,” I say. “There’s really no question he was set up, and if we can get the person who actually killed Fairfax on record, I can get this thing dismissed.”
“You sure you want it dismissed?”
I roll my eyes. “Yes, I’m absolutely positive.”
Her silence has weight until she speaks. “I’m worried about you. You seem different.”
“I’m always like this with a case,” I protest.
She keeps quiet again.
“Fine,” I say. “Yes, there’s something going on, but until I understand it, I can’t explain it.”
She loudly blows out air. “Oh, sorry,” she says.
“No, it’s okay. Air doesn’t bug me. If you start chewing chips though, we’re going to have a problem.”
“I would never do that,” she exclaims.
I believe her. She truly would never do that.
She clears her throat. “I lost Alana. I can’t lose you to another mob boss.” Her fear of abandonment has always been right there, and my heart aches for her. The death of her father wounded her deeply, and then her stepmother pretty much cast her out to the boarding school where we met. My grandfather had worked as the janitor so I could attend the classes.
“First of all, neither one of us has lost Alana,” I say. “We all had to grow up someday and maybe get married.”
“You’re not marrying Alexei Sokolov, are you?”
The thought sends a very stupid thrill through me, and I quench it. “Of course not,” I say. “Come on, Ella. Even if I do get married someday, you’re not going to lose me. You’re not alone.”
“I know,” she says. “It’d just be nice if my friends were here when my stepmother comes to kill me.”
My head snaps up. We joke about that sometimes, but there’s a ring of truth in her tone now. She seems more somber lately, and I’m wondering what she’s planning. I know her. She’s a planner. “You really think she will want you dead?”
“I don’t think I’ll give her a choice,” Ella says softly. “I’m going after the company, and soon, and she’ll have to fight back.”
“I’ll be at your side. I promise.” No way will I let Ella face that evil bitch on her own.
“I know.”
I twirl a pencil through my fingers. “Why haven’t you made a move yet?”
“Their firewalls are too good,” she grumbles. “I’m close, but it’ll take me a while to hack, and I can’t really do anything until I control the servers of TimeGem.”
I might have to prepare a defense for corporate hacking, just in case. I’ll have a paralegal start researching that immediately. “If I can do anything to help you, you know I will.”
“I have a program running 24/7. I’m getting close,” she says. “Very.”
A pit drops into my stomach. She’s not kidding about her stepmother. She’s evil and greedy.
But I only have the mental bandwidth to work on one trial at a time, and I need to get Alexei set free for good. “I’ll get the disc to you tomorrow. I have a full day. What do you say about popping by around dinnertime?” I should be able to scrounge up enough money for pizza.
“If dinner is on you, I’m there,” she says. “We can ask Alana to meet us.”
“That’s fine. Give her a call. Oh, and I need my gold earrings back. They would’ve gone perfectly with my outfit today.”
She borrowed them months ago. “Sorry, I forgot to give those back to you,” she says. “I wore them on a date the other night.”
“How did it go?”
“Horrible. He spent the whole time telling me how close he is with his mother.”
I wince. “That’s not good.”
“No, but that’s okay,” Ella says. “Honestly, men are boring.”