Chapter 5 - Bail and Blackmail
Ryan made bail the next afternoon.
I knew the exact moment it happened because Sarah’s paralegal was at the courthouse watching.
Despite the restraining order, I knew Ryan would try to contact me.
He was too arrogant to believe the rules applied to him.
Sure enough, at 7:00 PM, my burner phone rang.
Only three people had the number. Ryan wasn't one of them.
"Hello?" I answered cautiously.
"Claire, don't hang up," Ryan's voice came through, strained and breathless.
He must have used his mother's phone.
"You're violating a court order, Ryan."
"I don't care," he snapped, the old aggression bleeding back into his tone.
"You need to drop the charges. Right now."
"Or what?" I challenged.
"Or I take down your entire career," he sneered.
I paused. "Excuse me?"
"You think I didn't keep copies of your company's proprietary data?" Ryan said.
"I logged into your laptop months ago."
"I have client lists. Source codes. If I leak them, your company is ruined."
He was bluffing. He had to be.
"You're a terrible liar, Ryan," I said, though my heart beat a little faster.
"Am I?" he countered.
"Check your email. I just sent a sample to your personal account."
I put him on speaker and opened my laptop.
An email from an encrypted address sat in my inbox.
I clicked the attachment.
My blood ran cold.
It was a screenshot of our top-tier client database.
"If I go to prison, I'm burning your life to the ground with me," Ryan whispered.
"Drop the assault charges, and tell the cops you gave me permission to move the money."
"You want me to commit perjury to save you?"
"I want you to be a good wife for once in your miserable life!" he shouted.
I took a deep breath, staring at the screen.
"I need time to think," I said.
"You have twenty-four hours," Ryan warned, and the line went dead.
I didn't cry. I didn't panic.
Instead, I called the head of my company's cybersecurity division.
"David," I said when he answered. "I have a rogue breach on my local device."
"I need you to trace an IP address and lock down everything."
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Ryan thought he could outsmart a tech executive.
He was about to find out how wrong he was.
