Since I Fell For You(92)

“Or I didn’t have anything to do with this.” Being innocent of the charges they’d come in with wasn’t making Craig look any happier, however. He picked up his cell and dialed. “Dennis, it’s Craig. Did you install a new chip in one of our home automation systems a couple of days ago at—” Suzanne gave him the address, which he repeated into the phone. “Who assigned the job to you?” Craig’s face paled. “Got it.”

He disconnected, then stared at the phone’s screen for a long moment before dialing again. “Patrick, I need you to come to my office. No, this can’t wait for your meeting to end. Get your ass in here now.” Craig put the phone down, his hands shaking more than ever. “Suzanne, if anything had happened to you in a fire…” He looked anguished. “I want you to know I’m sorry. I didn’t know about any of this, but I’m so sorry—”

Patrick burst through the door, nearly slamming into Roman. “You again. What the hell are you—” He belatedly realized Suzanne was standing beside Roman. “Suzanne? What’s going on?”

“I’ll tell you exactly what’s going on, Patrick. My phones and corporate servers have been under attack for months. And then, yesterday, my apartment almost went up in flames because of an update done to this device while I was away at a family wedding.”

Something that looked a heck of a lot like fear flashed in Patrick’s eyes before he shuttered his gaze. “Our units have undergone strict testing and they are guaranteed to be fire safe.”

“They’re fire safe with the approved chip.” Craig advanced on his partner, his Irish accent becoming more pronounced with his growing agitation. “This new chip installed in Suzanne’s unit is unauthorized for use. You know damn well that I rejected it in early rounds of testing on the grounds that I never intended CP Systems to spy on its customers when that’s what we’re supposed to be protecting them from. Which is why we never took the chip far enough into testing to find out that it is also a fire hazard.”

While Craig was speaking, Roman slid his hand from Suzanne’s and shifted position so that her body was shielded by his. Lee, meanwhile, had backed into the corner of the office, as far from everyone as possible.

Danger crackled in the air as Craig advanced on Patrick. “You could have killed her.”

“And listen to you cry over your lost love? I sure as hell wouldn’t have signed up for that.” At Craig’s surprised expression, Patrick sneered. “You think I don’t know that you were banging Suzanne?”

Roman was halfway across the room to make Patrick pay for saying that when Suzanne jumped in front of him. Though she spoke to Roman only with her eyes—I know, he’s pissing me off too—she knew he would understand her. He always did. But we need to let him talk, need to find out what he was involved in. And I’m strong enough to withstand anything he has to say.

She watched as the man she loved warred with himself over his natural instinct to protect her in any way he could, before nodding his agreement that he’d let this scene play out a little while longer. If Patrick was stupid enough to lay a hand on her, however, she wouldn’t hold Roman back again.

“Watch your mouth,” Craig warned his partner.

“You should have watched your mouth,” Patrick fumed. “If you hadn’t gotten so cozy with her beneath the sheets, she wouldn’t have found out that we were working on the same new software. As soon as she found out we were also in the game, she ramped up production and beat us to the punch by a flipping mile. You lost us hundreds of millions of dollars in future revenue, and for what? She might have thought you were fun for a couple of nights, but she was never going to stay with you. Girls like her look innocent, when all they really want is to do dirty things with guys like that.” He jerked his thumb in Roman’s direction.

Before either Craig or Roman could get their hands around Patrick’s neck, Suzanne moved in front of him. Yet again, she was glad she’d learned how to be so quick, growing up in a house with three brothers.

“I always knew CP Systems was trying to build a similar program, Patrick. Creating affordable digital security software is a no-brainer.” She made sure to emphasize the no brain part. Though she connected with Craig on a technical level, she’d never been able to find a point of connection with his sales-focused co-founder. But that didn’t mean she’d thought Patrick was capable of going after her the way it now seemed he had. “I didn’t speed up my game after talking with Craig. I just went at the same speed I always do.” She bared her teeth at him in a smile that wasn’t a smile. “Fast. Sullivan Security is going to beat you to the market fair and square. Even with all the distractions you kept sending my way.”