When Different Worlds Collide ✔️

Mostly- Erik's POV

Erik's POV-

"You got everything?" I asked when I sat on the other side of his desk.

"Mostly," Jake said.

He wouldn't meet my eyes, and that set alarm bells off in my mind. He looked guilty and remorseful. It left me on edge.

"What's wrong? What do you mean mostly?" I asked in a hard voice. "Could you not get into his files?"

"No, I actually got into those pretty easily. The CFO left his office unlocked and I picked the lock to the file room just like how you showed me..." Jake trailed off.

"So?"

"The computer was considerably harder," he answered.

"Dammit!" I cursed. "His computer is important," I complained. "How are we going to continue without any of those-"

"I got eighty-one percent of them," Jake interrupted and held up a flash drive.

"Eighty-one percent?" I questioned. "What happened? Did someone come in? Did you get caught?"

"Trust me when I tell you, you don't want to know," he answered quickly with a distraught voice.

"What do you mean?"

"Erik don't make me lie to you," he told me firmly.

I knew that it had to have been something to do with Kat. I mean, why else would he not tell me what happened?

"You didn't get her involved, did you?" I asked in a hard voice. If he had done that, I wasn't sure what I would do. The last thing that I wanted was to get her hurt even more.

"Not directly, no," he said quickly. "Don't worry, she has no idea what we're doing. No one does."

"Then what happened?" I demanded. I wasn't going to give in. I was invested now. Anything to do with Kat had to do with me, and I didn't like the implications that his guilt alluded to.

"I was almost caught," he sighed. "She couldn't get him out of the room. He was angry at me. When she finally got him away from the computer, everything was going smoothly. He was engrossed in their conversation, she was winning him over for our plan, and he was finally beginning to trust her..."

"Then what?"

"The computer started dinging. Apparently, his computer dings when a very large file downloads," he sighed.

"So, he found you?"

"No," he said sharply and closed his eyes tightly. "Kat has no idea what I was doing. The only thing I asked her was to buy me some time..."

"I don't understand..." I admitted.

"She bought me some time, for sure..." he trailed off. "She kissed him."

"That's what all this is about, Jake? They're engaged. I assume that they kiss all the time. While it makes me want to throw up and go cause him bodily harm, I'd assume that's not too uncommon," I dismissed.

"Erik... My brother is... Awful. Kat has kept a firm physical boundary between them. While yes, they've kissed before, she has never initiated it. She's never allowed him to touch her. Now that she has..." he trailed off and looked away with a stressed look. "You should have seen the way he treated her. Well, maybe not because I'm pretty sure you'd be in jail right now."

"What do you mean?" I articulated every word sharply.

The images that I had conjured in my mind were making me feel homicidal. I need him to contradict everything because if he didn't... He had been right; I'd end up in jail for murder.