Page 90 of Love and Gravity
Grace swiped at the tears running down her cheeks. “Yours, ours, what does it matter when it’s gone? What the fuck are we supposed to do now? If I had just accepted his idea of a fling this wouldn’t have happened, but noooo, I had to go ahead and fall for him, and now look at the mess we’re in. I didn’t even think twice about giving him my code and my tablet.”
“Anton wouldn’t do this to us.” Lou held her hands up in a placating gesture. “I know it looks bad, Gracie, but you have to trust him. You know him.”
“Do I? I’ve known him less than a year—8 months really, and he’s only been in the country for a few weeks. I went away with him for a weekend—so what? Hecouldbe a mastermind thief.”
“He had RED stolen, too. Why would he steal from us? He’s my friend. And I know,” she swallowed and gave her a reassuring smile that was frayed but still intact,”I knowif you feel this way that he loves you too. I’ve seen the way he is with you. He’s different.”
Grace flushed and looked down, shaking her head. “You don’t know that.”
“You’re easy to love. I hate that your family made you doubt that. It makes me so angry when I think about it. I want to shrink-ray them into a tiny ant farm.”
Grace laughed and wiped at her damp eyes. “Hey, I’m supposed to be comforting you. What the hell? You aren’t supposed to be talking about avengingme. I’m your assistant, and I gave your work awa-”
“You’re my best friend first,” Lou said, cutting her off. “And I love you, and you love me. That’s what counts. I don’t care about the research. You were the only one who believed in me before it. I care about you. Stop doubting that.”
“It’s hard,” Grace whispered, but she opened her arms to Lou when the woman came forward. They hugged one another and Grace leaned into her friend with a shake of her head. “You know we’re fucked, right?”
Lou chuckled and squeezed her tight. “Oh yeah, so fucked,” Lou said, voice muffled from where it was pressed into Grace’s shoulder. “But we’ll think of something. We always do.”
Grace nodded, her mind already racing for solutions. Maybe they could review the cameras for evidence. There wasn’t an inch of the place that wasn’t under surveillance. It was a long shot, but Grace held onto it and was about to tell Lou her idea when she heard a shout from the lab. Instantly, both women tensed and pulled apart with wary looks.
“What now?” Grace groaned as Lou rushed toward the door.
“I don’t know, but it doesn’t sound good,” Lou replied, throwing open the door.
“I swear to Odin, if they think they are going to screw around right now, I’ll lose it.” Grace stomped after her friend with a glare. Her threshold may be high, but she wasn’t a saint, and if there was even so much as a whisper of dissent in the labs she was going to blow the place up herself. Heads would roll.
“Oh hell,” Lou blurted out when she saw Anton standing in the middle of the lab with Elisha staring him down.
“I heard her. Just now. You took her code. You did this.” Elisha stabbed a finger at Anton, who held up his hands in defense, though by the confused look on his face he didn’t have a clue what he defended himself from.
“What are you talking about? Did what?” Anton asked, head whipping back and forth from Lou and Grace to Elisha. A small group of scientists from both teams gathered around the scene.
“Don’t play stupid,” Elisha spit out, her teeth flashing, “you know exactly what you did.”
“The hell I do. Explain it to me and stop talking in riddles.” Anton held up a hand, a hand holding her tablet, and Grace’s stomach flip-flopped at the sight. “What is going on? Grace?”
She stepped forward on leaden feet and looked around the room. “The research,” she said, and the entire room’s eyes shifted to her. No use in trying to keep it a secret from any of them when it was happening like this. Might as well tell them all and own it. “The servers were wiped this morning. Everything is gone.”
The room erupted in gasps and the tension grew with each worried voice that began to sound. Although all of it only lasted a second before Elisha cut right through it.
“Andyoudid it,” Elisha burst out, making the scientists around them all fall silent.
“He wouldn’t do that,” one of Anton’s physicists insisted, earning a scoff from Elisha.
“Youwouldsay that. You’re with him,” she said, pointing a finger at them.
Lou rushed forward, taking Grace with her. “Look. We need to stay calm. There’s no evidence that Anton had anything to do with it.”
“She said she gave him her code and he has her tablet.” Elisha flicked a finger at the tablet in Anton’s hand. “Unless he’s suddenly developed a love of scratch-and-sniff stickers, that’s Grace’s.”
Grace colored at the words, but true enough, her tablet sported an assortment of fruit- and pastry-themed scratch-and-sniff stickers she had covered the tablet with in a fit of boredom. There was no mistaking the tablet as anything but hers.
“Grace, what’s going on?” Anton looked at her, his dark eyes searching hers, and she found herself moving forward until she stood beside him.
“Our servers got wiped. They took everything,” she said again, because her brain felt like mush and honestly she had no clue what else to say.
His eyes widened. “Someone stole everything?” He looked around the room and swallowed hard. “We have to do something. Did you contact support?”