Chapter 50

CHAPTER50

“We’ll get to Kelly in a moment,” Tristan said as he gestured towards the iPad, “Tell me what’s going on.”

“Since the text messages didn’t start until a minute after Quinn left the room, I knew that there had to be a triggering event that set it off,” Bailey began, only to realize that she should probably break this down a little more when she saw the matching frowns on their faces.

Licking her lips, Bailey decided to approach this the way that she did whenever she had to explain something to Nathan. “In order to pull this off, whoever sent the texts had to make sure that Quinn wasn’t in the room, otherwise it would have been clear that he wasn’t the one sending them. That meant that they had to come up with a way to know that he wasn’t in the room but that I was.”

“And how did they do that?” Tristan asked while Quinn sat there quietly, looking lost in thought as he absently ran his fingertips over her knee.

“That’s what I wanted to know, so I started with the settings, looking to see which apps had access to things like the microphone, camera, Bluetooth, and GPS, knowing that one of them was being used to trigger the text messages,” Bailey explained, watching as Quinn absently nodded along with Tristan.

Thankful that she hadn’t lost them yet, Bailey continued. “The app had to know that Quinn left the room, which meant that either someone had to be listening, watching, or receiving a signal from another device.”

“Which means that Quinn leaving the room was the triggering event, letting them know to send the messages,” Tristan correctly guessed.

Gesturing to the iPad, Bailey said, “The messenger app had access to everything except for the Bluetooth and GPS, which normally would have led me to believe that whoever was behind this was at least listening, but-”

“They would have known that Quinn was otherwise occupied when they decided to send that text from him,” Tristan drawled as Bailey decided that she would be avoiding making eye contact with the large man for the rest of this conversation.

“Exactly,” Bailey said, clearing her throat as she continued, “which means that video and the microphone are out.”

“You said the messenger app didn’t have access to the Bluetooth or GPS,” Tristan reminded her, sounding confused while Quinn sat there, looking lost in thought as he continued absently running his fingertips over her knee, making her wonder what he was thinking.

“Which didn’t make sense, so I went back to the app and tried to figure out what I was missing. I checked the settings and went through everything again and found an app that looked off. After a quick check, I realized that there were actually two messenger apps on the iPad. The one that came with the iPad had been deleted from the home screen and replaced with a fake app designed to look and work like the real thing, but this app is connected to the GPS,” Bailey explained, gesturing between the iPad and Quinn’s phone. “It’s using the coordinates from his phone to track his movement so that-”

“It knew when he was leaving the room,” Tristan murmured, sounding thoughtful as he glanced back down at the devices on his desk before his curious gaze found her. “How did they know that you were still in the room?”

“Because there were two parts to this triggering event, Quinn’s phone moving away was the catalyst that put the app on alert and when I accessed the iPad, it activated the program and sent the messages,” Bailey explained, once again unable to help but notice that Quinn still hadn’t said anything.

“Why did you mention Kelly?” Tristan asked as his gaze flickered to Quinn as the man that was really starting to make her nervous just sat there, absently running his fingertips over her thigh.

“Because whoever sent the texts was trying to make it look like Kelly was behind it,” Bailey said, knowing without a doubt that Kelly had nothing to do with this.

“We know that it’s Kelly, Bailey,” Tristan said as he gestured to the file on the desk behind him. “We have bank records, emails, dates that match the attacks, an extensive criminal record, and this morning, your staff was able to trace an attempt to break into Haven Technologies’ server and attempted to download your files while simultaneously uploading a program to destroy everything.”

“On her work laptop?” Bailey asked, trying to wrap her mind around what he’d just said.

“From what I’ve been told, it was her work laptop,” Tristan said.

“And you’re sure that it was her work laptop?” she asked as her gaze flickered between Tristan and the file that apparently proved that Kelly was behind everything.

“Yes,” came the answer that had her absently nodding as she said, “Then, it can’t be her.”

“Bailey,” Tristan began, only to pause to share a look with Quinn before he continued, “everything points to Kelly.”

“I know it does,” Bailey said, worrying her bottom lip between her teeth as she glanced back at the iPad as she thought over everything and-

It was too easy.

“And those text messages point to you,” Bailey said as she glanced back at Quinn to find him watching her through those cold gray eyes that she loved so much.

“Tristan?” Quinn said, keeping his eyes locked with hers as he gave up running his fingertips over her thigh so that he could reach up and cup her face in his hand.

“I’ll see what else I can find out,” Tristan said as he pushed away from the desk and headed for the door while Bailey thought over everything they’d said and-

None of it made sense.

* * *

“She didn’t do this,”Bailey mumbled absently, looking completely lost as Quinn caressed his fingertips along her jaw one last time before he dropped his hand away so that he could pick her up and place her on her feet.

Never taking his eyes off her, Quinn took her hands in his as he stood up and stepped away from the chair and kept moving, leading her into the hallway and towards their room, noting the way that she worried her bottom lip between her teeth, looking lost in thought and-

He couldn’t fucking lose her.

“You scare the hell out of me,” Quinn admitted as he backed her into their room, watching as her expression turned confused.

“What?” Bailey asked as he reached back and closed the bedroom door behind them.

“You’re a pain in the ass,” Quinn said as he locked the door, watching the way that her beautiful blue eyes narrowed on him. “And you drive me fucking crazy,” he said as he reached up and cupped her face in his hands.

“I do that to everyone,” Bailey pointed out with a solemn nod, making his lips twitch as he ran his fingertips over her jaw as he leaned down and pressed his lips against her forehead.

“I’m really not surprised,” Quinn whispered against her forehead before he pulled away so that he could turn his head and kiss her cheek.

“What else?” Bailey asked as she reached up and covered his hands with hers and pulled them away so that she could entwine her fingers with his.

“I can’t stop thinking about you,” Quinn murmured softly as he pulled back so that he could turn his head and kiss her other cheek.

“That’s because I’m irresistible,” she assured him, making his lips twitch as he turned his head and brushed his lips against hers.

“Yes, you are,” Quinn said, groaning softly when she moved her lips teasingly against his.

“What else?” Bailey asked as she released his hands so that she could reach up and place her hands against his chest.

“I want you,” he admitted, wondering if she had any idea just how fucking much.

“And?” Bailey asked, smiling as she gave him a gentle push that had him moving until his back was pressed against the door.

“And,” Quinn said softly as he slowly brushed his lips against hers, “I’m beyond fucking terrified that this is all a dream.”

“Am I your dream, Quinn?” Bailey whispered against his lips as she reached up and ran her fingertips along his jaw.

“No,” he said softly, “you’re everything.”