“I have connections she didn’t want the firm to know about. She loves her job. Now tell me about this client.”

“He, uh,” the elevator man licked his lips nervously, finally starting to catch up. “He requested a meeting, said he thought someone hacked his system.”

“You were in the meeting?”

“Yes, finding culprits is my domain. I asked for Fiona’s help because I wanted to see her in action.”

I smirked. “She is the best. What happened next?” We were drawing a crowd, but I didn’t care. 

“She used her computer to access his database. She said it didn’t look like anything had been tampered with, but an employee may be living at work. They didn’t seem surprised by this. They asked if they could take her to lunch at the bar in the hotel, and then get her opinion on tightening things up.”

I rubbed my hands through my hair. “What’s the name of the client?”

“Ivan Smirnov.”

I huffed, which slowly turned into maniacal laughter. The two men took a step back. “Don’t you morons vet your clients before meeting with them?”

“We… we did. He owns a chain of hotels.” 

I bent over, holding my head as I shook it. Then I stood up and looked straight into his eyes. “He also runs the local Bratva syndicate. Fiona got kidnapped by the Russian mafia right in front of you.”

Linda gasped from behind me, and Chris paled. 

“How do you know that?” The elevator man, who was obviously a Senior Partner in the firm, and therefore her boss, partially whispered.

I threw out both my arms to the side. “Because I run a club downtown. The mafia frequent it. As long as I give them their space, they leave me and my club alone. I have no desire for them to take over my very lucrative business.”

I rubbed my eyes again, right as BoBo walked onto the floor. He watched me warily as he came to stand next to me. The others all took more than one step back. The man certainly carried a presence.

“Sir?” He waited for instructions.

“Ivan has her. He posed as a client. Somehow Fiona knew something was wrong. Maybe she saw something on the computer. I need Jorge to hack her computer, see if he can find what it was.”

“I can do it. I may not be as good as Fiona, but I know what I am doing.” Chris gulped when my eyes settled on him. “And I’m already here.”

He made a good point. “Fine. Do it.” I looked back at BoBo, silently telling him to still make the call. 

Linda picked up a key and walked into the closed office. “She locks it in her desk.”

Our whole group moved inside. BoBo stayed outside the door, guarding, and making the calls for me.

Linda knelt behind the desk and unlocked it. She set the laptop down on the desk, where Chris was already sitting on the visitor side. I took a minute to look around the office. There wasn’t much in the way of decorations. Just the basics. Her degree, and a few pictures. There was one with Katia and her family. One of Fiona with her Dad and brother. 

Then another one. One that made me pause. 

I picked it up and nearly started crying myself. That one picture was nearly my undoing.

Here she talked about keeping our relationship a secret, and she had a picture of us sitting on her desk. It was during one of the few times I managed to convince her to go somewhere with me.

We had driven all the way to Ventura and spent the day on the beach. Fiona had laughed as I took the selfie of us sitting on a blanket together. She was in my arms, where she was safest. I never sent her a copy of it, but then, I wouldn’t have to. If Fiona wanted something digital, she got it herself.