“Oh, stop whining. Once all this is over, you’ll be swimming in money. Are you nearly done with the upload?”

“I’m working on the encryptions. A few hours more work and then I can start authorizing. We’re almost there.”

Ilona let out a sigh of relief. “Good. But we still have to take care of her. We can’t risk her finding what we’re doing and stopping us just before we reach the finish line.”

“I’ll get rid of her. Just as well he’s made her his lover. Samson will be so devastated; he won’t even notice what’s happening to his company. It plays right into our hands.”

What was her brother talking about? “Devastated? He’s just fucking her.”

“Just fucking her? Dream on. He’s in love with her, calls her ‘his woman.’ Looks like he’s finally over you. Took him long enough. I’ll call you when it’s done.”

“Wait,” she tried to stop him, but he’d already disconnected the call.

Samson was in love with that little bitch? She didn’t give a hoot one way or the other about Samson’s love life, but to be replaced by a human? Now, that hurt. Bastard!

Ilona tossed her phone onto the couch and kicked off her stilettos. On the way to her bedroom she shrugged off her dress and let it fall to the floor. Her staff would clean up later. She had more important things to do.

***

Amaury dialed Thomas’ cell phone and was connected instantly.

“I need your expertise.”

“What about?” Thomas sounded distracted. In the background he could hear somebody else.

“I need you to go through some files for me. You’re better at IT than I am.”

It was true. Thomas was the resident IT expert on anything to do with Scanguards. Whatever was needed, Thomas knew how to do it.

“Now? I’m in the middle of something.”

Amaury rolled his eyes. “Stop fucking Milo and get your ass in gear. I’ve found something that makes me think John Reardon was involved in something bigger than just siphoning off a few grand. He uploaded encrypted files to headquarters, and I need to know what’s in them.”

“You don’t need me for that. I know you’re capable of cracking the encryption yourself,” Thomas pushed back.

“I know I am. It’s just taking me longer than it will take you. So, do it.”

Thomas was clearly hesitating, until he finally conceded. “Fine. I’ll get on it. What’s the location for the files?”

Amaury informed him of the server location and the code by which to identify John’s files.

“We’ll split the work. I’ll start on the bottom and work my way up. You’ll take the top. Call me when you find something,” Amaury instructed him and finished the call.

It was a good thing Amaury had seniority over Thomas. When push came to shove, Amaury normally won the argument. It also helped that he was Samson’s closest and oldest friend.

He’d spent the last hour going through a history of what John had worked on in the last month, specifically which files he’d accessed. Delilah’s suggestion to look at everything accessed under his login had proven successful. John had been all over the place, sticking his nose into files he’d had no business viewing in his position, files other staff should have worked on, not he.

Carl stuck his head into the office. “Amaury, is Mr. Woodford with you?”

He shook his head. “You can call him Samson, you know. I know he’s offered it often enough.”

“I’d rather not.”

“He’s out with Delilah. What do you need?”

“I’ve remembered something that’s been bothering me.” Carl shifted from one foot to the other.

Amaury pointed at the chair opposite the desk, silently asking Carl to take a seat.

“It has to do with Miss Ilona.”

“Ilona?” Amaury couldn’t suppress his surprise. Nobody had mentioned her name in Samson’s household in over nine months. Just as well he wasn’t home. And hopefully wouldn’t be in the next five minutes. If he heard her name uttered in his house, there would be no telling how he’d react.

“She spent a lot of time here. I know she never liked me, so I stayed out of her way as much as I could. I didn’t want to upset Mr. Woodford, and after she left there wasn’t really any good time to mention it. Mr. Woodford was so unapproachable for a long time.”

Amaury remembered well. His friend had been withdrawn and preferred his own company to that of his friends. He’d built up a lot of anger, and the anger had turned to depression until he’d finally returned to what seemed his normal self. Except for the fact that he’d shunned the company of women after that.