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The
reference that caught his attention was Olivia
Barringer
,
and she worked in
NorthCentral
. Isabelle had
indicated she was a former classmate who now worked in public relations for a
company that Kane had never heard of, and he knew them all.

He
was now curious as to whether Isabelle had lied about this as well, or if
Olivia had given Isabelle a fake company, so he searched for it. There was no
such business in any of the cities underneath the USA. He searched in other
countries but knew he wouldn’t find it because it didn’t exist.

There
was no home address listed for Olivia, but there was a phone number. He found
that easily enough. It was an Internet phone number assigned to
NorthCentral
. It was also likely Olivia’s personal phone
number, not a business number, but why hadn’t that been checked out by their HR
department?

He
returned to the HR website and scrolled through the pre and post interview
notes. References hadn’t been checked until after Isabelle had been
interviewed, and they had never tried to contact Olivia. They’d stopped at
three references and had likely not bothered with any more, since three were
more than sufficient for an administrative assistant.

Kane
did a search for Olivia
Barringer
online, and within
seconds he found a marriage license from five years ago, in
NorthCentral
.
He also found evidence she and her husband had bought a home in
NorthCentral
a year after they were married. Of all the
addresses listed for each, they had shared that one for four years now.

Olivia
had attended
NorthEast
University for graduate
school, so she had likely known Isabelle in school, but she’d done her
undergrad in
NorthCentral
. While that wasn’t unusual,
it put her in the same cities as both Rob Marin and Isabelle, at different
times.

His
hands shook as he accessed the database listing Rob as one of the suspected
hackers. This was the database Liane Peyton had developed for use across their
twelve companies. Not only did it list names, but it contained their last known
addresses and other information of that sort, as well as other pertinent
information … like the fact that Rob had once worked at ACE Communications on
Ace’s hacker team.

Rob’s
key information from that company’s HR site was in the database as well. Kane
made a mental note to call Emmett and tell him to give Liane a very large
raise. The foresight to include information like this in the database was worth
far more than he was sure Emmett was currently paying her.

He
brought up the two pages, side-by-side, and let out a deep sigh. Rob’s address
was the same as Olivia’s, and the reason for that soon became apparent as he
did a quick search for both names. Olivia no longer went by Olivia
Barringer
. She was now Olivia Marin, and she was Rob’s
wife.

Chapter
Ten

Julianne
woke before the sun was up, but when she glanced out the window, faint pink
tinged the eastern sky. She must have been more tired than she’d thought
because she never slept so deeply, especially considering she hadn’t been in a
familiar place.

She
had brought extra clothes with her so after she cleaned up, she put on fresh
clothes and brushed her hair. Then she followed the smell of bacon and coffee
down to the kitchen. Julianne grinned and leaned against a post to watch Kane
at the cook top. His back was to her, and he wore sweatpants and a t-shirt, but
she’d never seen anything so damn sexy. What was it about a man who cooked?

Julianne
moved, and Kane whirled around with the frying pan in his hand. For a split
second she was afraid he’d drop it, but then he placed it back on the cook top.
“You startled me. Did I wake you?”

“
No. I can’t believe I slept this late.”

“
The sun is barely up.”

“
That’s late for me.” She nodded toward the frying pan.
“That smells great. What is it?”

He
grinned, and if she hadn’t been so hungry, she’d walk over and kiss him. The
hell with breakfast. “My specialty. Bacon, potatoes, and grits in one pan. I
fry it all in butter, garlic, and onions.”

“
Wow.”

He
laughed, then proceeded to spoon a generous amount onto two plates each. “Don’t
knock it until you’ve tried it.”

“
The coffee smells good, too. Did you make that as
well?”

He
gave her a droll look. “Ha-ha. You’re funny in the mornings. I’ll have to
entice you to stay over more often.”

“
May I pour you a cup as well?”

“
Please. I drink it black.”

“
So do
I
.” She poured them
each a cup, then took a seat next to Kane at the counter.

He
handed her a fork. “Dig in. I want to know how much you love it before I eat my
own.”

“
Will your ego suffer if I hate it?”

He
narrowed his eyes. “Watch it, gorgeous. I’ll lean you over this counter and
paddle you with a rubber spatula.
That
will
hurt.”

She
had to bite back a moan as images raced through her mind. How did he know
exactly what aroused her already? Julianne glanced down at her food and then
took a bite. “Oh … oh my. Kane, this is seriously good.”

“
I know, right?”

“
It’s a good thing you’re so damn cute because that
attitude is over the top arrogant.”

He
put down his fork and gave her a disconsolate look. “Cute?
Cute?
You think I’m cute? Puppies are cute. Little girls in
pigtails are cute.”

Julianne
was laughing so hard she had to stop eating. “It’s the glasses. They’re too
adorable, and they really bring out your eyes.” She ran a hand through his soft
hair. “And this shaggy mop helps complete the look.”

“
Do they teach you how to give backhanded compliments
in journalism school?”

“
Not until the graduate level.” She picked up her fork
again. “It’s a dangerous skill in an amateur’s hands.”

“
You’ve perfected it.”

She
grinned at him. “I know, right?”

“
You’re a brat, but I like you.”

She
stared into Kane’s eyes for what felt like long moments. Somewhere close by a
clock ticked. “I like you, too. Very much. I really am teasing you about the
food. It’s delicious.”

“
Thank you. After we eat, I have some things to show
you.”

“
Oh?”

He
pointed toward her plate. “Breakfast first. I never share bad news on an empty
stomach.”

“
Bad news about what?”

“
Isabelle. You were right to be suspicious of her, and
I hope you were serious about breaking ties with her.”

“
Shit. What did you find?”

“
After we eat. Seriously. I’m starving.”

She
blew out a breath that ruffled her hair. “What is it with men? If you’re not
thinking with your dicks, you’re obsessed with food.”

“
Your fault, you know.”

“
How do you figure that?”

He
gave her a molten look that melted her heart and her panties. “Seriously? You
stroll in here with all that curly hair, no makeup but you’re still fucking
gorgeous, and you
look
at me like
that … and tease me … and you wonder why I’m hungry and yet still thinking
about sex?”

“
Touché.” She took another bite and then swallowed it.
“Thank you, by the way, for saying I’m gorgeous.”

“
You are.”

“
And you’re cute.”

He
laughed and reached out to swat at her, but she ducked in time. They ate their
breakfast without trading any further barbs, and once they finished, Julianne
suddenly didn’t want to know what Kane had found. If she saw it, she’d have to
do something about it. “I think I’ll take a quick shower if you don’t mind.”

He
raised his brows. “Need some company?”

“
Yes. That would be great.”

His
gaze softened. “Why are you avoiding this? I thought you’d want to know you were
right.”

“
I’ve been thinking about everything you and I said
last evening. This goes way deeper than a source giving me information she had
no business knowing, doesn’t it?”

“
Maybe. I honestly don’t know that yet.”

“
Then let me rephrase the question. Is what you found
enough to make you fire Isabelle?”

“
Even if I hadn’t found this, by telling you what she
did, she went against company policy. That’s why I searched for more. I can’t
fire her and risk having her find out why, because then your job would then be
in jeopardy.”

She
stared at him as those words sank in. He’d done this to help protect her. “My
job might be safe, but my integrity would be in serious trouble.”

“
Same thing in your field, but you know that. You made
something of yourself after that story five years ago.
UTU
took a chance on you, and now they trust you. I insisted you
name the source, and that placed you in a difficult position. Now I’ve fixed
it, but in doing so, I’ve uncovered a potentially serious security breach at my
company.”

“
When will you fire her?”

“
I want to talk to my father first.”

“
Why?”

He
looked uncomfortable, and for a second Julianne wasn’t sure he’d give her an
answer. “If we keep her on, we can watch her. Rob has disappeared, and we’ve
all been looking for him. She might lead us there, and she might lead us to
others as well.”

Julianne
bit her tongue as a sharp retort rose to her lips. She forced herself to count
to three before she spoke. “While I admire your morality in making sure my
integrity was protected, and I am grateful for it, what you’re considering
doing isn’t any more ethical than my revealing what Isabelle told me was.”

“
I know that, Julianne.” His voice was quiet, and she
could see the struggle on his face. He sighed. “Consider this from my point of
view. We have a chance to finally pin down people we’ve been searching for.
Dominic Greco has always believed this was an inside job. It’s starting to look
like he was right. We’ve never been this close before.”

The
hairs on the back of her neck prickled. “Do think Isabelle is one of the
hackers?”

“
No, but I think she might have been planted inside my
company. Let me show you what I found. Then we’ll take that shower together.”

****

Kane
would much rather be in his bed with Julianne, but he’d been up most of the night,
and she needed to see this. He brought up the general things he’d found online.
“One of the references she listed on her application is a woman named Olivia
Barringer
.”

“
Who is she?”

 
“
Hang
on. This gets worse. Isabelle listed a company called Optimal Exposure as
Olivia’s place of employment. Olivia supposedly did PR work there. Problem is,
there is no such company, and that’s what started my search for this woman. I
looked everywhere for the company, but it’s fake. Then because I was curious as
to who faked it, Olivia or Isabelle, I went looking for Olivia.”

“
Did you find her?”

He
nodded. “Yes, only she hasn’t gone by ‘
Barringer
’ for
four years. She now goes by Olivia Marin. Do you want to guess whose wife she
is?”

“
Are you kidding me?”

“
I wish I was. Here are the addresses where the two
have lived. They’ve shared this particular one for four years. It’s the home
they bought a year after they were married. I found their marriage license. I
can’t show you the database that our companies now use across the board to keep
track of suspected hackers, but I can tell you that this address is also
Rob’s.”

Julianne
frowned. “Why would Isabelle take a chance like that? Listing Olivia on her
references, if she’s in league with her and Rob?”

“
I thought of that, too, but she had her near the
bottom. It was never checked, and Isabelle likely knew it wouldn’t be. She had
three solid references right on top. Once they reach three, they don’t bother
with the rest. Not for someone applying for a position like the one she has,
anyway. I think she did it to say ‘fuck you’ to us.”

Julianne
didn’t look convinced. “It’s still risky. Did you find anything to connect
Isabelle and Olivia? Are they really former classmates?”

He
grinned. “Yes, they sure are.” He brought up Isabelle’s resume and Olivia’s,
and then he clicked on one of the projects he’d found that the two had worked
on in graduate school. “Not only were they classmates, but Olivia’s
accomplishments are almost as impressive as Isabelle’s.”

Julianne
leaned close and studied what he’d put on the screen. “This is telling, but I
don’t get it. Why would she take a chance like that?”

“
Isabelle or Olivia?”

“
Isabelle for using her as a reference in the first
place, and both for listing Olivia as working at a fake company.”

“
Maybe Olivia isn’t that bright? Her husband sure
isn’t.”

“
What do you mean?”

“
He was caught by trying to frame Harper for hacking
into Ace’s work station, and using it to hack into his personal laptop. Only he
didn’t count on not being able to change the system logs completely at ACE
Communications. He left behind a footprint anyway, but that’s not the best
part. The passwords he had been using to log into the company systems to which
he had access were too similar to the ones he’d used on the message boards that
Harper was cross-checking.”

“
That’s not very smart at all, and especially for a
hacker. Maybe he’s not behind any of this? Maybe he’s only one of those people
who likes to fuck with others on the Internet?”

“
Perhaps, but maybe he and Olivia are both involved in
this at some level, and planted Isabelle?”

“
Did you check her other references for names on your
database?”

“
I did. Olivia was the only suspicious one.”

“
What are you going to do now?”

“
Speak to my father.”

“I
don’t know, Kane. I realize this makes it look like Isabelle and Olivia are in
league, but I’m still having issues with it. I can’t see anyone taking a risk
like that, even if it was to pull one over on a potential employer.
”

“
I understand what you mean. That’s one of the reasons
I want to consult the family before I do anything about it.”

“
Thank you for showing me this.”

“
I thought you had a right to know what you might be
dealing with.”

“
Even if you find out she’s not directly involved with
Rob and Olivia, I’m not using her as a source any longer. Besides, I have a
better one for the stories I want to write.”

He
raised his brows. “Really? Who is that?”

Her
sultry laugh made his dick hard. When she crawled into his lap and closed his
laptop, he grinned. “You, silly. It’s time for that shower, don’t you think?”

“
Oh, yes. I totally agree.”