With an exaggerated sigh, Ryan continued. “Still, a shame not to see Lucy’s reaction when she learns you’ve gotten her kicked out of ValleyStart.”

“Kicked . . . kicked . . . what?” Delia struggled. “But today’s Demo Day.”

“Sure it is, but not for you. Unless, of course, you want to proceed after this. It’s entirely up to you, really.” He turned his laptop around. “Here, see for yourselves.”

An image of Delia and Maddie filled the screen. A pause button covered the middle, but Maddie knew exactly what they’d see underneath. Or rather, who.

“Alrighty, let me.” Ryan hit play.

And there was Natalie. At her desk, accepting Delia’s computer and logging in to Pulse.

“All the tech we have, and turns out, security cameras are the simplest yet most effective. We canned this little lamb when my IT staff got notice of a double login. Logged in at the office and an unknown remote location at the same time. It happens, but this time, her explanation didn’t compute. She was helping another Pulse employee? One whose description matched no one on staff? Imagine my surprise when we reviewed the security footage. Solid gold handed right to me.”

The video rolled, and Maddie felt sick. As much for what they’d done as for being caught.

“You’re disqualified, girls. Which you should have been the instant it was revealed that you’d stolen Lit.”

“But we didn’t—” Delia started.

“Revealed how?” Maddie interrupted. “What would you know about stolen Lit code that no other ValleyStart administrator knows?”

Ryan simply smiled, and Maddie searched for a hint of something beneath his bravado. Was he really so arrogant that he wasn’t even a little afraid of what they might have uncovered?

“Now,” he said, “you can go ahead and give your half-assed presentation on whatever sorry app you’ve come up with in the past five minutes, and I’ll have the police officers waiting in the wings to escort you when you’re finished. Or you can leave quietly, no fuss, no muss.”

Maddie slid closer to Delia and took her trembling hand. This was why he wasn’t afraid. “You’re blackmailing us?”

Ryan clasped his hands behind his head and propped his feet up on the desk. “Yes. Yes, I am.”

THIRTY–THREE

WALKING DEAD • A company not yet out of funding but that clearly won’t become successful, making it unattractive for buyers

AGAIN. AGAIN, AGAIN, AGAIN.

It was happening again.

A fist tight around Delia’s throat.

Strangling her every breath.

Dark spots in front of her eyes.

Obscuring her vision.

A sledgehammer pounding her temples.

Making her feel like she was dying.

She wasn’t dying. She knew she wasn’t. That didn’t make it any less terrifying.