“Pris?” Dad said in disbelief.
“Who else? She’s had this weird idea that I’m going to steal Derek from her or something. You should have seen her Christmas Eve at the company ball. She was so vindictive. So horrible. She attacked me. Threw a drink in my face! All because she wanted me away from where she and Derek were. Maybe she got engaged and wanted to make sure I stay out of the way for good.”
“Isn’t that going a little far?”
Ella’s mouth gaped. “So you’d rather believe I’m a thief than take my side against her?” Spots flashed in her vision.
“I—no. Of course not.” He scooted to the edge of the couch. “I’ll talk to her. We can get this straightened out.”
Ella shook her head. “She’ll just cozy up to you like she always has and find some other way to get back at me for it later.”
She grew dizzy. This was one more thing she didn’t want to deal with. Gritting her teeth, she attempted to control her trembling limbs. “Thanks for coming by, Dad. But I’d like for you to leave. I’ve got to go job hunting so I can keep paying rent. Unless word leaks here too, and I get kicked out.”
In a rare moment of frustration, she was tempted to kick the couch. It would be just her luck, to get evicted on top of everything else.
Dad stood, taking her hands. This time, she let him.
“Ella.” His voice sounded empty. “I’m sorry.”
History dredged up at the admission she’d been hoping to hear for years. He was sorry? For siding with Pris and Stina? For allowing them to shut her out for years? Ella didn’t know.
Suddenly, she didn’t want to. She didn’t want the reminder of just how unlovable she was after all.
“Bye, Dad.”
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Days had passed since the miserable confrontation with Ella. Hawk still couldn’t believe it of her. He’d spent more time than ever in Ethan’s office, searching the footage from Christmas Eve. With Ethan and the other security guard’s help, he analyzed things, over and over and over again. Watching Ella arrive. Watching himself talk to her, viewing her stepsister, Priscilla Malus, attack her and splash wine on her dress, reliving the invitation to change clothes in his office.
Their kiss had even been captured on camera, and while mingling sight with memory pooled heat inside of him, he tried not to let it affect him. He’d walked Ella out, and that had been that. She didn’t show up anywhere else on the feed for the rest of the night, not until a strange ripple in the feed appeared.
It was as though something had been cut and spliced, and then there she was, with keys in her custodial uniform on the fifth floor.
This didn’t make any sense. In despair, he sagged against the seat, until Hawk caught a flash of something. He jerked to attention again, squinting to discern the difference in the video.
“Hang on, Ethan,” he said. “Can you zoom in and play this again?”
Ethan zoomed in. Ella’s face flickered for the briefest moment, almost as though in an instant she turned into someone else and back to herself again. How could that be?
“Is that—?” Hawk asked.
“Yeah,” Ethan said, slowly. “Look. Here too. This feed has been tampered with.”
“Go back to the ball,” Hawk said.
They streamed to the scene where Ella’s stepsister splashed wine on her. Pris’s face was revolting, twisted with malice as it had been. “There. Can you find this woman elsewhere in the feed?”
“I’ll try,” Ethan said. Then a few minutes later, he said, “Strange.”
“What is?” Hawk asked.
“Here. Look at this.” Ethan pointed.
Beside him, his fellow security leaned closer as well. “Unbelievable,” he muttered.
Hawk copied the other two men, tilting in for a better look. The change was barely noticeable. Hawk thought of all the crime shows he’d seen on TV. This was the point he’d criticize the criminal. If they went through all the trouble of something like this, at least make sure it was thorough. Whoever did this was an amateur at best.
The same flash from earlier appeared, but Ethan managed to slow it, making it last a bit longer. And then Ethan opened a new file.
“What—what are we looking at?” Hawk asked.
“I think it’s the deleted feed,” Ethan said, musing. Sure enough, Pris Malus went into the bathroom in her ball gown on the fifth floor and emerged in her custodial attire, carrying Ella’s purse over her shoulder. Clandestinely sneaking into the office, the same image Hawk had first seen appeared, but with Ella’s face instead. The jarring pixilation was gone, whereas Pris’s image was completely clear.
Stealing the tablets. Returning to the breakroom. Planting the items in Ella’s locker.
“It appears they attempted to overlay Miss Embers’ face on this woman’s and then delete the footage. But they neglected to ensure all the original files were actually deleted. They don’t have my access code for something like that, though how they managed to hack in as much as they did is still a mystery.”
“Is there any evidence of them coming to the security room?” Hawk asked.
“None so far, sir, but if they covered their tracks this poorly, I’m sure I can find it.” His fingers flew on the keyboard for several minutes. “Wait. Here, look, it’s encrypted. Matt, can you work with this?” Ethan asked his fellow security guard.
“I’m sure I can,” said Matt.
Hawk exhaled with an unexpected release of all the tension in his body. He’d been so pent up for days after that accusation in the custodial breakroom. He didn’t care that Ella was a custodian, though she must have kept it from him for some reason. But to think she’d been the one stealing from him and his company? He’d been so distraught. He needed a woman he could trust and he’d come to care for her more
