A Dangerously Sexy Affair (13 page)

She took off before he had the chance to ask any more questions. A bad feeling roiled in his gut. Something from that meeting had freaked her out, and he was going to find out what it was.

13

S
HIT
,
SHIT
,
SHIT
!

Quinn grabbed her backpack and hurried out of the office. The problems were piling up, and her frayed nerves were settling in for the long haul. Owen knew she'd slept with Aiden, and after chatting with Rhys it was clear that she'd be
persona non grata
if he found out about it.

But she'd have to deal with that later. Right now she had to figure out if Hawaiian shirt guy—aka Christopher—was leaking information to Alana. Her best friend. A person she trusted.

Alana had gone to the cocktail party to speak to someone from Third Planet Studios. She'd even admitted that a couple of months ago she'd gotten a “sneak peek” at the plans for their latest “Galactic Warrior” game. Quinn had assumed she meant an early press release, not confidential information accessed via an inside person. But the timing and the content of the email Aiden had found pointed to a different conclusion.

She jabbed at the elevator call button and sagged in relief when the doors opened immediately. Fingers trembling, she hesitated for a moment before dialing Alana's number.

“Quinn? How are you? I thought you'd dropped off the face of the earth. WoW is
not
the same without you.”

The elevator doors pinged and she hurried toward the exit, desperate to put some space between her and work. “Have you been stealing information from Third Planet Studios?”

The pause seemed to drag on forever.

“Excuse me?” Alana eventually laughed on the other end of the line, though it sounded a little forced. “I haven't stolen anything.”

“Be straight with me,” she pleaded. “Are you or are you not getting access to confidential information at Third Planet Studios?”

Outside the weather was ironically beautiful. The cool temperatures had been broken by a glowing sun, and a warm breeze trickled across her skin as a bird chirped. A fucking
bird
.

Too bad there was a dark, thunderous cloud hanging over her head.

A clicking noise in the background told her Alana was tapping her nails against something. “This doesn't sound like a personal question, Quinn. Why are you asking me this?”

“Because my boss gave me a second chance at that promotion.”

“That's fantastic—”

“My assignment is to investigate an information leak for Third Planet Studios.”

Pause. “Oh.”

“Yeah.” A dull pain thudded behind her eyes as she walked along Broadway, dodging a fancily dressed woman coming out of Bloomingdale's with an expensive purse tucked under her arm. “What do you know about it?”

“Not a lot.” She took a deep breath. “I've been getting information from this guy for a while, but he got spooked a few months back because someone caught him emailing stuff out of the company.”

“What's his name?” She knew, but hearing Alana say it would mean that there was still some trust left between them.

The silence dragged on until a sigh sounded on the other end of the line and Alana finally said, “Christopher.”

“What information has he been sending you?”

Bloomingdale's blurred past as she stormed ahead. People moved out of her way as soon as they caught her expression. The Third Planet building was close by and she needed a plan. ASAP.

“Documents with their plans for future games.” A note of hesitation in her voice made Quinn's ears prick.

“What else?”

“There's this guy who works there and he's been victimizing female staff. The company does
nothing
about it because he's related to the owner.” Her voice wobbled. “It's bullshit, Quinn. The industry does not need people like that. He basically attacked my friend Sarah.”

“She was an intern there?” The pieces clicked into place.

“Yeah, she made a complaint and he threatened to come after her. How did you know?”

“But you never received information about the game design engine, right?”

“What are you talking about? I don't know anything about a game design engine.”

Quinn believed her. Alana wasn't in the business of trading corporate information. She wasn't playing spies and profiting off trade secrets.

She wanted to change the industry to make it safer for women. That was all she cared about.

“The leak I'm investigating is around the engine, not this thing with Zach Levitt.”

“So you
do
know who I'm talking about. He's a predator, Quinn. Tell me you don't have anything to do with him. He scared Sarah so bad—”

“I can imagine.” Quinn came to a stop at the entrance to the Third Planet building and looked up the tall, reflective column. “But what does he have to do with the game design documents?”

“Nothing, directly. But I've been searching for a way to take Third Planet down for a while. The stuff about Walt's nephew never seems to stick, though.” She sighed. “So I got creative. If I can't get Walt for sexist work practices then I'll expose him for sexist game designs. If enough people boycott the company maybe he'll change his ways.”

“Tell me you didn't do anything illegal to get this information.”

Silence.

“Alana.” She ground the heel of her hand against her eye to quell the throbbing. “What did you do?”

“I might have gotten access to Christopher's email and found out that he was cheating on his wife...and blackmailed him a little.”

“And how did you get access to his email?” She shook her head. “Wait. Actually, I don't want to know.”

“Please, Quinn. We won't ever be able to change things unless people like Zachary and Walt are taken down.” She clucked her tongue. “So maybe my methods weren't one hundred percent ethical, but it's for the greater good.”

“Why didn't you tell me about any of this?”

“I didn't want you to be ashamed of me.”

How could this have gotten so messy so quickly? There was no way Aiden would back off on Alana's informant if she brought it to his and Rhys's attention. But if she didn't, it could be her job. Shit.

“I'm not ashamed of you, Alana. I just...did you have to blackmail him? That's a fucking crime.”

“It's his word against mine. They can't prove anything.” She drew a shaky breath.

“You'd better hope not.”

“Please don't let them go after Christopher. He'll fold quicker than a shitty poker hand. All I wanted was enough evidence to do an exposé on Third Planet. They can't keep covering up this kind of behavior. Sarah
still
hasn't been able to find work because she's terrified it'll happen again.”

Quinn wanted to be angry. No, scratch that. She wanted to be
furious
.

But she thought of Sarah, this girl she'd never met—probably never would meet—and how frightened she must be. Quinn understood that feeling all too well.

She sighed. “I can't make any promises. But I'll do my best. Just stop talking to this guy.”

Her best friend had done something monumentally stupid. But Alana had been there for Quinn when she'd needed someone, and in a way this was also her way of being there for Sarah. Quinn had to help them both. As for Aiden...well, she had no idea whether or not she could trust him with this. His job was everything to him. What if he wanted to throw Alana under the bus to get his
runs on the board
?

She couldn't risk it. She'd have to fix this situation on her own.

* * *

A
IDEN
ALWAYS
RELIED
on his instinct. He didn't act on it without proof, but he listened to it nonetheless. And today it was screaming loud and clear: warning, shit-storm ahead.

Logan had caught him on the way out and suggested they walk together since he was off to a client meeting in the same direction. The last thing Aiden had wanted was company, but he'd barely seen Logan since he started. The guy was busy with a capital B. No one worked as hard on their business as he did. It was part of the reason Aiden wanted to work for him. Success was catching, and Logan had it in abundance.

“How are you settling in?” Logan asked as they crossed an intersection. “Sorry I haven't been able to catch up with you until now.”

“You know me. I don't need a babysitter.”

Logan slapped him on the back. “I know. But I begged you to come and work for me so I didn't want you to think it was all talk. I have big plans for you.”

The words echoed in his head. It was exactly what Rhys had said. Big plans. “Hey, can I ask you something?”

“Sure.”

“Does everyone know you brought me across?”

Logan raised an eyebrow and ran a hand along the edge of his stubble-coated jaw. “I shared your experience with Rhys and our office manager, Addison, before you came in for an interview. I wasn't planning on keeping it a secret.”

“Right.”

“Worried that people will walk on eggshells around you?”

He laughed. “Nothing gets past you, does it?”

“I'm not running a security company because of my good looks.” The creases around his eyes deepened as he smiled. “But I won't hesitate to back you if anyone tries to say you weren't the best damn candidate for the job.”

“Even over one of your own staff members?”

“Are you talking about Quinn? She's smart and I want to see her succeed, but this wasn't her time.” They rounded a corner, sidestepping a woman with a stroller. “You need to stop worrying so much about other people thinking you're worthy. I don't care that you're my best friend. If you were a Muppet I wouldn't have hired you. And I'd tell you that to your face.”

He didn't doubt it. Logan was known for being blunt to the nth degree; he had a short fuse and an even shorter attention span. He'd burned through a lot of employees when he'd first taken over the reins at Cobalt & Dane. Weeding out the deadwood, he'd called it. Then he'd filled the gaps with guys like him—dedicated, hardworking. Loyal.

Aiden was honored to be counted as one of them. “She's got more potential that you give her credit for.”

“Don't tell me she's gotten under your skin?”

“She can do more than fixing printers and screwing in lightbulbs.”

“Screwing in lightbulbs?”

“You know what I mean. Mundane crap. You could hire a monkey to do that.”

Logan snorted. “What you do on your personal time is your business. But you keep it out of the office, okay? And leave running my business to me.”

That was as close as he would get to having Logan's blessing. But it was enough for him.

“I'm just saying, you have talented staff. If you don't utilize them, they'll leave.”

Logan gave him a look that said the conversation was over. “How's your brother doing? I heard he split up with his wife. That really blows.”

“Yeah, Marcus is pretty cut up about it.”

“I'm sorry to hear that.” His face softened. “Maybe we should take him out for a drink, or is he doing his usual withdrawal thing?”

“He stopped by my place two weeks ago, but he didn't want to talk about the separation.”

“Like father, like son.” Logan shook his head. “You're an unemotional lot, you Odells.”

“You can talk.” Aiden moved to sock him in the arm but Logan dodged the blow easily.

“I don't put myself in a position where I need to get emotional.” He tapped the side of his head and winked. “See, I'm smart like that.”

Aiden slowed his pace and they came to a stop in front of the coffee shop a few doors down from Third Planet Studios. He needed caffeine before he could face Quinn.

“Okay, big guy.” Logan slapped his palm on Aiden's back. “I just wanted to say I'm glad you saw the light and decided to come and work with me. And let's take Marcus out soon, okay?”

“Absolutely.”

Ten minutes later Aiden walked into the Third Planet Studios office with a coffee in one hand. He'd wanted to buy one for Quinn, the order had hovered on the tip of his tongue, but it would draw unnecessary attention to them. Still, he felt the need to make some kind of connection with her. Talk to her. Something to put his mind at ease after she'd shot out of their meeting like a rocket.

“You're back,” Joan said, falling into step beside him. “What's the plan for today?”

“Just a few follow-up questions.”

“Well, your meeting room is set up. I wasn't sure what time you were coming in so I haven't booked anyone in to see you. But if you want me to sit in on any meetings, I'll be free in the next hour.”

“Thanks. Do you have those access card reports I requested?”

“Of course. Come to my office and I'll give them to you now.” She bustled ahead, a stack of folders under one arm. “Whatever you need.”

Quinn wasn't at her desk when he walked past. Her desk looked untouched, too neat. Given the state of her apartment, he wouldn't say she was a messy person, by any stretch...but she wasn't exactly meticulous, either. He paused.

Her laptop screen was locked, the background set to a page displaying “Galactic Warrior” fan art. The cursor flashed in the field where her password would be typed.

There weren't any papers on her desk, no coffee cups or water glasses. Her toy llama was shoved into the corner of the desk, almost as if someone had pushed it out of the way. The last time he'd walked past her desk he'd noticed a notepad covered with her dainty cursive. Numbers, little bits of code and a few doodles. But it was nowhere to be seen.

Checking to make sure Joan wasn't watching, he ducked into Quinn's pod and opened the drawers in her desk. It was virtually empty, save for a few loose paper clips, a couple of pens and a pad of rainbow sticky notes.