Power and Possession(75)
But it still took another few seconds to dismiss that little word, love, on the name tag. Breathe in, breathe out. Okay, back to reality.
Setting the name tag aside, she untied the bow, placed the silk flower on the carpet, and unfolded the turquoise paper with care. When she lifted the cover on the box, she smiled. Maybe that’s why the name tag said love: nestled inside silver tissue were four pairs of ribbon-embellished lace panties so sheer you could read the paper through them. Now that kind of loving she understood.
Less uptight now, she reached for a second package.
A half hour later, she’d opened them all. Rafe had found a replacement for her silver dress, in addition to two others like it in different colors. Along with several dresses, slacks, shirts, blouses, bikinis, bustiers, and shoes so cute it would have been impossible to resist even if she’d wanted to.
She was surrounded by a ministore of fabulous clothes.
A few of her favorites were stacked in a little pile: a pair of purple spectator heels that were meant to be worn with a purple sleeveless linen dress pleated in little tiny hand-sewn pleats that made the short skirt bell out perfectly. Victorian black-and-white lace boots that matched a black laser-cut skirt and top. Yellow suede high-tops that complimented multicolored fish-print slim trousers and a sweatshirt. Rhinestone, sparkly heels that resembled twining snakes that rose to her ankles. Maybe those with the black lace bustier, she thought with a smile. A brilliant blue cashmere hoodie and pants she could picture wearing at night on the beach. And a pale blue ankle length cashmere sweater dress with a deep V-neck, long sleeves, and a zipper that opened in front that was übersexy. She felt a little frisson just thinking about Rafe slowly unzipping the dress.
The jewelry was hand-crafted, modern in design, and modest. Obviously whoever had selected these items from the boutique in Rome saw them as no more than decorative packaging. For which she was grateful. It was enough to be overwhelmed by the roses and designer clothes. Expensive jewelry would have been impossible to accept.
Picking up a dress from the top of the pile, she walked into the bathroom. After a quick shower, she slipped on the simple black dress in sweatshirt material printed with flamboyant coral, yellow, and white tulips. It was comfortable and easy to wear, as were the black leather flip-flops with tulips painted on the straps that went with it.
After a last glance in the mirror, she set out to thank Rafe for his generosity. Although, considering the venue, her thanks would have to be well-mannered and polite. No wild hugs and kisses for his largesse. No showing off her pretty new panties.
Chapter 19
The computer room had two dozen computers running, and Ganz was overseeing the technicians, moving from person to person, issuing instructions in crisp, blunt commands, waiting each time for either a confirming nod or a question that required further clarification. Every man’s facial expression was earnest and resolute. Everyone understood the stakes: Contini Pharma’s R&D, clinical trial results, and potential blockbuster drugs about to come on the market were all targets for the state-sponsored hacking.
The system that Ganz had shut down for almost two days had come back online an hour ago with a vengeance, flooding the company’s bandwidth with a brute-force wave of DDoS attacks. Under Ganz’s direction, the technicians were defending with the full range of response tools, denying access, setting up additional buffers to any port that looked even remotely vulnerable, double-checking the security of their servers, bolstering their firewalls, ultimately funneling the massive amount of traffic through their own scrubbing center facility that separated bad from good. Everyone working at full capacity to stop the huge volume of challenges.
Security of another kind was evident on the entire back wall of the large room, where thirty security screens overlooked the property, inside and out. Three men sat at a long counter scanning the monitors, part of a shift that changed every six hours. The protection was simply a fact of life for Rafe. His father had generated a number of enemies in his destructive path through life and both as heir and now CEO, Rafe had value in terms of ransom. Personal security was routine.
Lounging on a wine leather chesterfield across the room from the technicians, Rafe was frowning, his phone to his ear. “How many?”
“Three,” Carlos said. “We dumped them in the water two miles out. They won’t be found.”
“I expect they’ll send more. Ganz is high target.”
“Especially since he cleaned out the unit’s bank account when he left.”
Rafe grunted. “They owed him, he said. I’m sure they did. He had to have made them billions. Fuckers are greedy.”