Brent nodded and hurried off, already answering his phone as he rounded the bend back the way Kate had come.
Kate took a deep breath and stopped walking, to give Dex some time to finish his call.
A few minutes later she neared his rooms, but heard his voice as well as others at the door just before his.
She frowned and stopped. The door hadn’t been pulled fully closed, so if she stood just to the side, she could hear most of the conversation.
Kate scolded herself and was about to step away and come back later when she heard her name from a voice on the phone.
“We found some code in one of Miss Fretwell’s latest programs that used an algorithm to change the bank account number. That’s how the terrorist funds ended up in those other nonrelated accounts.”
Ice crystalized inside Kate’s veins, and she caught herself before she slammed open the door and demanded to know what the hell was going on.
Bank accounts? Terrorists?
She clenched her hands into fists, as anger, betrayal, and fear coursed through her.
Merestone had told her those were customer account numbers. She built that piece of code to their specifications, to pay their vendor accounts. Or so she’d thought.
“I haven’t found anything that would tell me that Kate knowingly participated in the plot. Everything we’ve seen is circumstantial.”
Dex’s rich voice may as well have plunged a dagger into her heart from the pain that exploded inside her chest.
He was some kind of cop? Or agent, if terrorists were involved.
FBI? CIA?
She wasn’t sure which agency dealt with terrorism directly, but either way, he had lied to her.
Had his entire purpose for coming to L.A. been to investigate her? Her throat tightened at the very real prospect.
“You may be right in this instance, Dex,” a fast-talking man on the phone said. “You said she and her father were estranged.”
Kate clenched her teeth as thoughts of all the information she had freely given him flashed through her mind. And then she realized they had just mentioned her father…
“Merestone had a large influx of cash from a new investor two years ago, just before all the money flow started and the front pages of their sites began having regular updates.”
Kate sucked in a breath, as cold dread settled in the pit of her stomach. Somehow, she knew what was coming.
“Richard Fretwell the Third?” Dex’s question echoed her thoughts, and a quick affirmative answer from the man on the phone made her stomach heave.
Anger, hurt, betrayal, despair, and a dozen other emotions she couldn’t name threatened to swamp her. Her eyes burned, and the tears began to flow.
It was all too much. She couldn’t deal with any of this right now.
Kate turned back toward the elevators and ran.
Chapter 25
With anger still sizzling inside her veins, Kate stormed into her father’s corporate office in downtown L.A.
His receptionist, Carolyn, who had been around much longer than Kate had been alive, tried to stop her, but Kate waved the woman off.
When she reached the door to her father’s office, she turned the knob and slammed it open as hard as she could. She enjoyed the loud bang when it hit the wall, and the cursing that came from inside the office.
It was an almost comical scene to have caught her father with his feet up on his desk, now trying to quickly stand without falling on his ass.
His gaze zeroed in on her and then his eyes narrowed. “Kathryne! What’s the meaning of this?”
She scowled and stepped inside, ready to do battle.
Kate reached for the door to slam it shut so she could have it out with her father in peace, when Carolyn rushed in and stood in the way. “Do you want me to call security, Mr. Fretwell?”
Kate glared down at the older woman in an “I dare you” fashion.
“It’s all right, Carolyn.” He waved her concerns away. “I think my daughter has something she’d like to discuss with me.”
Carolyn seemed ready to argue, but then she backed down like she had for as long as Kate had known her. The woman ducked her chin and backed out of the office, pulling the door shut behind her with a loud click.
Kate was oddly disappointed she hadn’t gotten to slam the door closed too, and that Carolyn had broken the flow of her temper.
Her father cleared his throat. “Kathryne. What did you want to discuss?”
Her anger flared back to life instantly, and she turned her burning glare on him, refusing to break eye contact first. He had aged since she’d seen him last; the lines around his eyes and mouth were etched deeper than she remembered. It had been only two months ago that they had met face to face.
Finally, he sighed and dropped his gaze. His shoulders sagged, and the tight line of his mouth relaxed for the first time in a long time. “I apologize. Kate. What did you want to discuss?”