He flipped through the calendar until he got to March. Lily had started on March 12. He would always remember the date. It was the first time he’d laid eyes on her. Sawyer had conducted her only in-person interview. Noah had only spoken to her on the phone. Noah then went back one week to find the name he was looking for—Robert Anderson. His phone number was right beneath it. Robert had been the guy who came in the week before Lily started work to deliver and set up her new computer. Noah and Sawyer had decided that they would use the one week of downtime between administrative assistants to get a few things in line—they bought a new desk, had the reception area painted and even put in all new furniture. But it was the computer that Noah was fixated on.
Noah glanced at the clock. It was only 8:00 a.m. But he decided to try the number anyway. He got voice mail for a nail salon in Queens. He double-checked the number and called again. Same message. Something was definitely up. The realization made the hair on the back of Noah’s neck stand up. Robert Anderson was a mole. Noah knew it with every fiber of his being. He pulled up the website for his dad’s development company and began doing image searches for every one of his father’s employees he could find.
After about an hour, Sawyer came in. “You look like I feel.”
Noah ran his hand through his hair, beyond exhausted. “I feel like hell. I didn’t sleep. At all.”
“The Lily thing really got to you, didn’t it?”
Noah shook his head and got up from his desk. He loved his brother, but damn, he was being dense. “Yes, Sawyer, it did. It bothered me a lot. Do you want to know why? Because I let you mow me down yesterday.”
“I was acting on the facts we had. What else was I supposed to do? Our business is the most important thing we have.”
“No, Sawyer. Kendall and the baby are the most important thing you have. The business is what you do all day. I know it’s your passion, but you have more in your life and I’m tired of believing that only you and Charlotte get to have that. I want it, too.”
Sawyer set his laptop bag down in a chair. “I never said that I didn’t want you to have that. Your track record never suggested anything else.”
Noah was ready to scream again, but that wasn’t going to accomplish anything. “Look. Stop digging up the past. I’m tired of it. The only thing that matters right now is that I don’t believe Lily is capable of the things we have accused her of. She’s our partner, she’s an amazing employee and, most important, she’s the woman I love.”
“Hold on a minute. You love her? Did you two sleep together?”
“It’s more than that. A lot more.”
“You can’t let your libido get between your own brother and the truth.”
“I’m not. I’m going to find the real truth. I have to find a way to fix this.”
The look of pity on Sawyer’s face made Noah want to knock it right off, and Noah had never hit his brother. Not even when they were kids. “You’re wasting your time.”
“Think about it, Sawyer. If Lily was working for Dad, why be such a flawless employee?”
“That put her further into the inner circle.”
Noah hated that his brother had an answer for everything. “I don’t buy it. I also don’t think Dad would’ve kept her on after the Grand Legacy was finally open. He would’ve had her disappear. The hotel is Dad’s real obsession.”
“Okay, then. Prove to me that Lily is innocent.”
“I will. And then I will say I told you so when I’m done.”
Sawyer left and Noah got back to work. After what seemed like hundreds of searches, he finally stumbled across what he was looking for, but Robert Anderson went by an entirely different name—Dan Lewis. The man worked for their father’s IT department out of his main office in New Jersey. Aside from the name change, he was practically hiding in plain sight. Noah printed the page from the website and walked into Sawyer’s office.
“I found the guy who sabotaged Lily’s computer.”
“What? Is that what you think happened?”
Noah explained his theory. Now that he was going through everything a second time, it made perfect sense. “And now I’m going out to Long Island to make things right.”
“If you’re going to talk to Dad, I’ll go with you.”
Sawyer wasn’t going to lead the charge on this one. This was much more about saving Lily than rescuing the business. Only Noah could do that. “I need to do this on my own. I need to end this.”
Sawyer nodded. “Okay. You do what you gotta do.”