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The filing cabinet crashes to the floor.
Maybe not so easy after all.
I’m about to pick it back up when something catches my eye. A hard drive, taped to the bottom of the cabinet. The cabinet is raised a bit, leaving a little space so the drive wouldn’t get crushed when upright.
Kneeling down, I peel back the tape and inspect the hard drive. It’s black and shiny—definitely not one of mine.
David’s?
Dread creeps up from the bottom of my stomach. Did he forget it? What’s on it? And why did he feel the need to hide it?
I walk around my desk, sinking into my chair and opening my laptop. After connecting the hard drive, I wait for it to load—only for a password box to pop up.
Fuck. There’s no way I could guess. David’s as paranoid as he is smart, and he doesn’t use personal things as passwords. They’re always random strings of numbers and letters that he somehow manages to memorize.
Chewing on my lip, I stare at the screen. Do I really want to know what’s on here? What if it’s something he didn’t want me to see?
With a bitter laugh, I yank the drive’s cord out of my laptop’s port. Of course he didn’t want me to see what was on here. He fucking hid it from me.
Just then, my phone pings with a text. I give it a quick glance to make sure it’s not important, but what I see makes my blood run cold.
There, sitting in a little notification, are two words from David.
I’m sorry.
I should’ve blocked his number. It’s the reasonable thing to do. But I just can’t bring myself to do it.
“Idiot,” I mutter, not sure if I’m talking about myself or David.
At that moment, all questions of whether I should or shouldn’t break into the hard drive leave my mind. This man hid too many things from me. I won’t let him hide another.
Grabbing my phone, I pull up Felix’s profile. He’s Blaze’s and Dom’s older cousin. He’s also the head of the tech department at Grayson Security, so he handles all things computers. Including things like hard drives with passwords that need broken into.
He answers on the third ring. “Hey, Brooke! To what do I owe this lovely surprise?”
I blurt out the words before I change my mind. “I need a favor, but you can’t tell anyone.”
Laughing, Felix says, “Sure thing, kiddo. What’s up?”
“I need you to break into a hard drive I just found. I’m pretty sure it’s David’s.”
There’s a startled noise on the other end of the line. Then, “I’m still at the office. Can you bring it in right now?”
“Yeah, sure, if you want. But you don’t have to do it right away if it’s going to keep you late.”
“I don’t mind,” he says, but there’s something off about his voice. “I’ll be bored at home anyway.”
“Well, okay. I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
WRINGING MY HANDS, I sit nervously at Felix’s desk at Grayson Security. “Anything?”
It’s Friday morning, early enough that I know Blaze won’t be in yet. When I handed the drive to Felix last night, he promised to stay up all night trying to get into it. Which seemed odd, considering it was a non-urgent personal matter. But I’m not about to complain.
When Felix looks up from his computer, his face is grim—and not just from lack of sleep. “I... Brooke, the stuff that’s on here—it’s not—god, how do I say this? I don’t know if I can show you.”
“What?” I stare at him. “I’m the one who brought it to you!”
My phone chimes, and I look down. My face falls, or something like that, because Felix tenses.
