He turned and looked at her and quickly looked away. "That should hold until you can call someone to replace it."
"Thank you, Liam, for helping me. I know I seem ungrateful, but I’m not."
Liam nodded absently.
“And before you start, I don’t discuss my clients, so you can just forget it.”
Liam shook his head at her. “This isn’t a game, Cora.”
“No, this is my life. My job. You don’t discuss your assignments, and I don’t push.” Liam looked away but not before flinching.
“That’s different. You don’t know what you’re getting yourself involved in."
“You don’t have a say in what I do and don’t do, Liam. You’ve kept secrets from me before, and you’re doing it all over again. I won’t have you disrupting my business. Who I work with is none of your business. Now get out.”
A tick worked in Liam’s jaw, and she could see that he was debating if he should keep pushing her. He must have realized it was futile because he nodded his head at her and closed the door.
Cora flinched at the slamming of her door. It was for the best though. Liam Macintosh broke her heart once. She wouldn't give him the opportunity to do so again. And he had no right barging back into her life after all these months.
Cora did a quick sweep of her house and made sure all the doors and windows were locked. A small voice nagged her in the back of her mind warning her that the broken window wasn't an accident. Alejandro had warned her not long before the window had been broken and there had been a car parked in front of Ben’s house, but she shook it off. She was just being paranoid. Who would break her window on purpose? She didn't have enemies. Her parents were long retired, and if someone were after Ben, they would go to his house, not hers. Alejandro was a client, and he didn’t know where she lived. Since she worked from home, she never met her clients there. She either met them online or at a public place, if they were close. And what she did wasn’t worth harming her over. No, she was just being paranoid. It was a random accident where a teenager got bored, nothing more. Cora shook her head at herself and went to bed.
Chapter Six
The next day as Cora was working on a new security project when there was a knock at her door. "Coming," she yelled out as she hobbled to the door. Her foot pained her a lot more today, and she already took some pain medicine, but it hadn't helped. She peeked through the peephole and couldn't contain her grin. She unlocked the door and opened it.
"Hannah," she said excitedly and pulled Hannah in for a hug. Hannah returned her embrace. "What are you doing back already? I assumed you wouldn't be back for a while."
Hannah pulled away and looked at the person standing next to her that Cora hadn't noticed was there before. "Hi, Ben," Cora said.
"Cora," Ben looked at her grimly and back at Hannah. They seemed to be having a silent conversation and Cora suddenly felt like she was intruding. He finally turned back to her. "How have things been here?"
"Fine," she said looking away. Cora was always a horrible liar.
"And the window?" Ben pressed.
Cora's gaze drifted towards her office even though she couldn't see the window from here. "A teen playing a prank." Cora shrugged; it reminded her that she still needed to call someone to fix the window.
Hannah grabbed Ben's arm. "Ben," she choked out. Ben placed a reassuring hand over hers.
"What's going on?" Cora asked concerned looking between the two of them.
"Nothing to worry about," Ben told her. "I have some calls to make. Goldilocks, why don’t you stay here and hang out with Cora?"
"Okay," Hannah turned to Cora, "If that's okay with you?"
Cora could sense there was more going on than Ben was letting on but knew he wouldn't tell her unless he could. "Of course, I could use a break."
Cora stepped back to let Hannah in but stepped back wrong and hissed in pain.
"Oh my god, Cora." Hannah rushed to her. "What happened?"
"I stepped on a shard last night, and it’s a little tender." Cora tried waving her off.
"Do you need to go to the doctor?"
"No, Liam came over and helped me," Cora said softly. She realized her mistake as soon as she said it.
"Liam?" Hannah perked up smiling broadly. It was no great secret Hannah wanted to see her and Liam back together. It didn’t matter how many times Cora told her otherwise.
"He came over to ask me something and saw the broken window and my foot. He bandaged me up and boarded up the window and left."
"Well, I'm glad he was here," Ben said and excused himself.
“Do you know what he wanted to ask you?” Hannah asked guiding Cora back into her house slowly so not to cause her further pain.
“He said something about my client, but I didn’t want to hear what he had to say, so I told him to leave.”
“You know Liam. He won’t stay gone for long. He is just going to re-strategize and come back.” The thought had crossed her mind. Cora couldn’t say she was entirely upset about that. Shameful girl.
"So, how was Portland?" Cora asked as she led Hannah into her living room opposite of her office.
Hannah cringed. "It could have been better."
"Was your family as welcoming as you thought?"
"No, it wasn't that. They were great. Better than I thought. I saw an old childhood friend even."
"Well, that doesn’t sound bad at all. How could it have been better?"
"Something happened in Portland, but I can’t tell you, Cora."
"What do you mean you can’t
