He nodded, resolute. “He will be. Starting today.”
I didn’t doubt he would make it happen. Not for one second.
Chapter Forty-eight
Salvatore
Perchedonthecounterbeside my sink, Lacey swung her legs as she watched me knot my tie.
She sighed. “You look so handsome.”
I found her gaze in the mirror. “Not so different from my everyday look, is it?”
Her mouth twisted. “Well, this suit is black, and so is your tie. You never wear black to work.”
“True. Very observant.” I gave the tie one last tug and turned to my girl. “Clara and Jake’s wedding is black tie optional. I can’t wear my work suits, and this one is more formal.”
“I wish I could go to the wedding too.” She perked up. “I bet Bea’s dress is going to be so pretty. Can I help you pick her up from her house so I can see how pretty she looks? Please, Uncle Sally?”
Lacey was far too skilled at convincing me to do what she wanted. To be fair, all it normally took was a little pout, batting her lashes, and asking nicely.
I smoothed my hand over her silky hair. “Yes. Why don’t we all pick her up? Then you can bring Benjamin here for the night.”
Her eyes lit up. “We’re going to have a sleepover with him again?”
“Yes, and Bea and I are going to have a sleepover at a hotel. Do you think you can take care of him all night while we’re away?”
She nodded. “Oh yes. Definitely.” Then she went still, her gaze darting over me. “You’ll be back in the morning, right?”
“I will. We might want to sleep in, so let’s say we’ll be back by eleven.”
The brief worry fled her in an instant. “That sounds good. I probably won’t sleep in, though.”
I didn’t doubt that, but for tonight, that would be my father’s responsibility. The wedding couldn’t have come at a better time. Bea and I needed this after the last couple weeks of putting out fires nonstop.
I’d asked Sam to leave Nox as soon as I’d discovered how duplicitous he’d truly been. He argued. Oh, had he argued. But now that my eyes had been opened, his tactics no longer worked on me. I would not be manipulated by our shared past, nor could he convince me I needed him to succeed, though he tried.
His access to our servers had been immediately revoked, and he’d been escorted from the building. He went quietly that day, but not the next.
Then the calls started. To other tech firms. To every contact he still had. He even tried to go to the press but backed off fairly quickly. I suspected his own lawyers had gotten to him before he could go too far.
Unfortunately for Sam, the whisper network worked fast in the tech world. Sure, there were always firms that were like hungry dogs and would do anything to make a buck, but in the security sector, being incorruptible was vitally important.
And Sam had proven he wasn’t.
Hehadn’t just burned bridges, he’d salted the earth behind him.
I hadn’t expected the aftermath of Sam leaving to be so…quiet. At first, that silence felt like relief. The absence of his voice in meetings. No more subtle redirects. No more gentle but consistent second-guessing. Just a return to clarity and control.
Sam had built relationships I hadn’t cared to maintain—partners I’d tolerated for the sake of his diplomacy, teams he’d handpicked with loyalty to him, not Nox. When he’d left, some followed, while others lingered, waiting to see if I would stumble.
I stayed steady. Each day, I hit the limit of my bandwidth, sealing cracks in the foundation I hadn’t seen until Sam left. My meetings with the developers from the Slack channel Paul had shown me had been insightful. Some were pompous jackasses, but others made good points.
It wasn’t the logistical fallout that often kept me awake in the hours between midnight and dawn, though. It washim. Well…who he’d once been to me—who I’d thought he was.
For a long time, Sam had been the buffer between me and a world often too loud, bright, big. He knew how to read my silences, how to speak in rooms I preferred not to. It wasn’t until he was gone I’d realized how much of a crutch he’d been for me. I’d let it happen because it had been easier for him to carry the weight I didn’t want.
And through it all, Bea had been my rock.
