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Slade pulled the sot lost in hed, the sound so faer winced at it He was used to disappointing Gavin But it was nice to know their oldest brother handled Slade the same way

“And ould her phone decide to hide in your slacks?”

Dex held his hand out, and Slade turned the phone over Dex ih her recent calls “Slade and I talked about it earlier Hannah knows a lot of people

Maybe one of the to answer it She one We can’t risk that” She’d had twenty danored the ones from Wendy and the other female office workers Hannah had befriended There were several nunize, and Hannah didn’t have contact names for their numbers

“We need to keep Hannah’s whereabouts quiet Wendy is the only one who knohere she is She’s been with the company for over a decade I would trust her with company secrets” Slade flipped open his laptop and started it up

“And Wendy loves Hannah,” Gavin offered “She views her as the daughter she never had and has lecturedcare of Hannah properly Wendy wouldn’t give up her whereabouts She knows the danger”

Dex sat down beside Slade, who had pulled up the company directory “Who has extension 709?”

Slade’s fingers flew across the keys “Scott Kirkwood He works in IT That’s the guy she was supposed to have lunch with today so he could talk to her about so ‘important’” Dex reo with his pale face When Dex had gone to the IT section to interrogate the little prick, he’d been out with a ‘personal appointment,’

according to his supervisor Scott was supposedly both reliable and punctual, but the ti smelled damn fishy to Dex “Send Burke his name”

“Already done,” Gavin advised

Satisfaction rolled through Dex “Good I’ll bet we have dates and times on some of this damn stalker’s actions Maybe we can use those to narrow the list of suspects down and eliminate others”

“I think you should have this conversation with Hannah,” Gavin suggested

Dex turned to him “We don’t want to scare her unnecessarily Once we know so”

“I understand not wanting to frighten her, but you can’t pretend the problem doesn’t exist when she’s around Isn’t she our best resource on figuring this out? I mean, she does knoho she speaks with on a daily basis”

“I don’t want her involved” Dex flipped through her phone “Extension 830?” A few clicks on the computer, and Slade had the answer “That’s Heather Coleburn She’s in the business ement office She and Hannah have had lunch every Wednesday for the last year”

“She makes friends so easily,” Dex enuine friend, and soe of that “722?”

Slade rolled his eyes “That’s Lyle You know Lyle”

Dex knew him well Lyle was the head of the help desk and a supposed coenius He just seee on her machine at hoht Maybe we should give his naed “Next time I talk to Burke or Cole, I will”

“Good Now does someone here want to tell me why I didn’t know that Hannah filed a sexual harassainst our CIO?”

“I didn’t know, either,” Slade added

Gavin’s eyes hooded “She told ot a little handsy at happy hour a couple of weeks back He and his wife are separating, and Ward was drunk I talked to him yesterday, just after I found out I told hiain”

“And you didn’t bother toup from his computer

Gavin’s perfectly polished shoes tapped against the hardwood floor, a sure sign he was getting impatient “By HR’s standards, Hannah’s complaint is confidential The only reason I knew about it was Preston himself He orried HR would pursue the matter, and came to plead his case to me Then I asked Hannah”

Dex wouldn’t have let the asshole plead anything “How could you let hi her like that?”

“She took care of hier than you give her credit for You should be daht have ended up liest the two of you do the saile in some ways, I think you’d do well to remember that she is a very independent woman who has a brain”

Gavin stalked past the the door behind him

“Give him a little time,” Slade said “He doesn’t understand our relationship with Hannah”

“Well, he’s not the only one,” a soft voice said from the doorway

Dex turned and saw Hannah standing there in one of the long, white terrycloth robes stashed in all the bedrooer all over her face, he’d bet she’d been standing there for a while “Hannah, you’re supposed to be in bed” She adjusted her robe “Yes, you put me to bed and tucked ood little girl If that was your goal, you should have just locked me in”

“I thought about it” Dex got the feeling she wouldn’t believe hi that door and knowing beyond a shadow of a doubt where she was

“Oh, well, live and learn Maybe you can lock in the next girl I would like my phone back” She strode up and held her hand out

“That’s not going to happen,” Dex said, snatching it up in his big fist

“Hannah, love,” Slade said, getting to his feet and cupping her shoulders “You don’t need that phone You’re safe here”

“Really? Who’s going to keep me safe from your overprotectiveness?” she drawled “I want my phone, now”

“You don’t need it”

“I certainly do How else a to call and make a reservation to fly out of here?” Dex itched to h, Dex knew his brother was going to try to gently talk Hannah out of her anger That would be a mistake, in Dex’s opinion He took a e She was tense, her eyes narrow and tight Her fists were clenched and every now and then she rolled the her nails into the pal for a fight…or soe off