“And I suppose hacking into the dating site was for their benefit as well?”
“It’s cracking, not hacking, when you’re unauthorized. And yes, I did help them. Their firewall was so inept it took me all of thirty seconds to access their administrative back end. And another two minutes to get into their allegedly secure financial database. Do you know the type of damage a real cracker could have done? I had one of my salespeople contact them and offer a substantial discount on our normal price to beef up their security.”
“Díos mío, you must be vying for sainthood. So is this your usual MO? Crack a site, find a woman, date her, write a book, ditch her, move on to the next one? Or do you wait for them to find out about the book so they break up with you? Then you can play the victim. You like that, don’t you. Poor little boy, never loved by his mother, so you take it out on other women! You disgust me, Liam Manning.”
She threw a damp paper towel at him. It didn’t even manage the distance between them, falling harmlessly at his feet. He wished she would hit him, pummel her fists into his chest. It wasn’t even near enough to what he deserved but at least it would show she still cared enough to want to hurt him.
“Lorelei—”
“Don’t you dare!” she said as he reached out a hand. She strode past him, careful to keep distance between them.
When she reached the doorway she turned back toward him. “Maybe you should go meet your father. Evidently you have more in common with him than you think.”
She slammed the door behind her and a minute later he heard the front door slam as well. The sound broke through the ice that held him immobile and he raced from the room.
Her bag was gone. Wrenching open the front door, she was nowhere to be seen. He couldn’t let her stand on the street wearing only his shirt, not even shoes, and make her way home. He raced out into the communal hallway and pounded on David’s door across the hall, praying Helen hadn’t left for work yet. She must have been standing nearby, as the door opened quickly. Her eyes almost popped out of her head to see him standing in the hallway in his underpants.
“Helen, go find Lorelei, she’s outside somewhere. Bring her back to your place, give her what she needs, and drive her to her apartment. You got David’s car keys?”
She nodded and without asking any questions, she headed down the hall. Liam turned back to his own apartment door and saw the Do Not Disturb sign. Too late for that; his whole life was now disturbed. He slipped back into his apartment and then watched through the peephole until Helen returned with a distraught Lorelei.
The woman who was the best thing to ever happen to him was sobbing uncontrollably, holding her arms around herself as though she’d been kicked and punched in the gut. Helen had her arm around Lorelei’s shoulders, trying her best to soothe. He pushed away from the door and headed to the shower.
Okay, Marcus, how the hell am I supposed to fix this mess?
Chapter Fifteen
Liam raised his head as his office door clicked open. Few people had braved his temper over the past two weeks and he’d been able to work in peace. What work he’d managed to accomplish, that was. With Lorelei’s tear-ravaged face appearing before his eyes every twenty minutes it was hard to concentrate and get anything done. Since she’d stormed out of his apartment he hadn’t even done one full day’s work. What had always been his panacea had now become his poison, remembering the keystrokes that had led to his current pain.
A piece of paper taped on a whiteboard pointer appeared through the crack in the doorway, soon followed by David’s head. “I come in peace. Permission to enter?”
Without waiting for his reply, David strode into the office, although he kept the door open, probably in case he needed to make a strategic retreat. Even his best friend had kept his distance since returning from DC. Liam wasn’t sure what story Helen had told her brother about rescuing a scantily clad Lorelei from the street, but based on the fact that neither of them had come over for dinner in the past week, he’d been condemned without a trial. Although he couldn’t see how a jury of his peers would reach any other conclusion. But was life without Lorelei a fitting punishment?
“What do you want, David?” Liam ran a hand over his face and through his hair. Even though he could go back to the beard, he’d still kept shaving.
“I brought you a present.” David advanced on the desk and deposited the huge bag of peanut M&M’s he’d been hiding behind his back. “Now that she’s gone you can eat these again.”
Liam noted the judicious avoidance of Lorelei’s name. “I don’t want those.” He threw the candy across the room. It slammed into the wall with a thud before scattering the multicolored treats across the carpet.
“So what do you want?” David lounged in the chair opposite the desk as he’d done a million times before.
“You know what I want,” Liam ground out. David was supposed to be his friend, so why was he rubbing his face in his misery?
“I want to hear you say it out loud.”
“I want Lorelei, damn it. I want her back in my life.”
“Why?”
Liam thrust his chair back so hard it crashed into the credenza behind his desk, sending a porcelain vase crashing to the floor. David flinched, but he didn’t move from the chair. Liam strode over to the window. He looked out on the epitome of success—corner office, panoramic view of the Bay Area, the world at his feet—and it all meant nothing.
“You’re going to make me say it, aren’t you?”
“Yup.”
“Why?” He spun around and glared at David.
“Because you need to hear the words out loud.”
He took a deep breath. “I want Lorelei back because I love her. I need her in my life for it to make sense.” Hearing the words didn’t sound as foolish as he’d thought. At least David didn’t laugh, he just nodded as though he’d known all along.
“So, what are you gonna do about it?” He upped the voltage on the electrodes.
Liam raked his hand through his hair again. “What can I do? I’ve tried everything. I’ve phoned her a thousand times. She won’t speak with me. In fact, she’s changed her numbers. I’ve sent flowers to her home and office begging for forgiveness and the chance to explain. I’ve emailed her until she’s canceled her email account and put a block on her work account.”
“It would take you two minutes to find out her new numbers and email address,” David said, gesturing at the computer on Liam’s desk.