Chapter 728
Chapter 728:
When she arrived at the executive floor, the lights were dimmed. Most of the staff had gone home. But the door to the strategy room was open.
“Harper? Felix?” Skye called out.
No answer.
Their desks were empty. Computers were locked, but coffee cups still sat there, half-full and cold. It wasn’t like them to leave without checking in. Especially Felix, who treated his job with the reverence of a priesthood.
Skye pulled out her phone and checked the internal tracking app she had installed on all company devices. Felix’s phone pinged.
He was in the building. Specifically, three floors down, in the secure server room.
Skye frowned. The server room was where they were decrypting the fragmented drives recovered from Lucian’s last hideout. Why would they be down there so late?
She took the service elevator down. The air grew cooler as she descended. The doors opened onto a dimly lit corridor lined with racks of blinking servers.
She heard a noise. A soft thud, followed by a giggle.
Skye moved silently, her boots making no sound on the concrete floor. She peered around the corner of aisle 4B.
Harper was standing on a step stool, reaching for a hard drive on top of the cooling unit. Felix stood behind her, holding the ladder steady with one hand, his other hand hovering near her waist as if ready to catch her.
“I’m telling you, Felix,” Harper whispered, her voice echoing slightly. “The decryption is almost done. The data fragments from the fire… if we piece them together, we can link the Cain payments to Arthur’s personal accounts p>
“I know, I know,” Felix muttered, looking up at her. He wasn’t looking at the drive. He was looking at Harper. “But be careful. That stool looks wobbly p>
“I’m fine,” Harper said. She grabbed the drive casing. It was heavier than she expected. She swayed.
“Whoa!” Felix lunged.
𝘕𝗼 𝗉𝘪𝗋а𝘤у 𝗋𝗲a𝗱 𝘰n 𝗯𝘦𝘭ոоvе𝘭𝗌.𝗰o𝗺
The drive tipped. Cables cascaded down. Harper lost her balance and fell backward.
Felix caught her.
It wasn’t a graceful catch. They collided with a grunt and tumbled onto a stack of cooling schematics. Felix took the brunt of the impact, landing on his back with Harper sprawled on top of him.
LED lights blinked rhythmically in the beam of the flashlight that had rolled across the floor.
Silence fell.
Harper pushed herself up slightly, her hands on Felix’s chest. Her glasses were askew. Felix was breathless, his face turning a deep shade of crimson. Their faces were inches apart.
“Are you… are you okay?” Felix squeaked.
“I think so,” Harper stammered. She didn’t move. She was staring at his lips.
Felix swallowed hard. His hand moved, tentative, to brush a stray lock of hair from her forehead. The air between them crackled with sudden, undeniable tension. It was the clumsy, sweet attraction of two people who had spent too many late nights working side by side.
“Harper,” Felix whispered.