Page 43 of Curvy Quirky Omega

My father had ensured I’d never hesitate in a dangerous situation.

Explaining to Francisco’s security why I’d shot him in the kidney instead of the shoulder made me look like a psycho though, but I hadn’t killed him. He was fine minus one kidney. Frankie was fine. Win-win.

“I got what we needed,” I told her as I uploaded one of my programs that would give me a backdoor into this machine if I ever needed access again. “Tracing the IP addresses won’t be hard, but it’s going to take some time. There are always a lot of people in here.”

Seeing what Gideon had sent and where would help if we couldn’t find his other phone but only if the IP address he sent it to could be tracked.

Gideon’s IP would have the same issue. I couldn’t just trace it back to the source since it was a burner, but I’d be able to figure out which provider he was using. If we could figure out which number he had then we could have his information pulled from the source. Then I’d be able to see every message he’d ever sent even if he’d deleted it.

Anything else we’d need his actual phone for.

Phones could be a secure storage device if they never connected to an unsecured network. Any evidence wouldn’t be on the provider’s servers if he didn’t send it anywhere, and even then it might not be the actual data, just the record of what kind of data it was – a video, a picture, or a voice recording of some kind.

But the actual content? I needed his physical phone for that.

“Lucy.”

I pursed my lips, annoyed she wouldn’t just drop it. “I’m not worried about River and Liam. That man would kill her if she tried anything. What I am worried about is what her pack is doing to her. Why does she keep letting them marry her off?”

Making sure there was no trace of what I’d downloaded or where I’d sent it before closing everything down, I took a deep breath and forced myself to calm down. The last thing we needed was Liam and Cas getting worried and barging in here because I was pissed off.

“Your father gave me the rights to Arturo’s life,” I reminded her as I ejected the flash drive. “He’s proven to me what kind of alpha he wants to be, but what about the others running this city? We’re going to be a part of the legacy world soon. We won’t be able to fly under the radar anymore.”

Frankie drained the rest of her americano and tossed it in the trash. “So, you think she has a reason?”

I spun the chair around and tucked the drive into my pocket. “She’s too smart not to.”

“I guess.” Frankie eyed the back room, making sure we didn’t miss anything. “I’ll see if I can find out what it is once we’re officially engaged.”

I stumbled when I tried to stand and nearly fell as emotions washed over me with the force of a tidal wave through the bond.

Shock.

Frustration.

Anger and then fury.

The ringing in my ears was too loud to hear whatever Frankie was desperately trying to say. I pushed off of her, barely getting my feet under me as I ran for the door. I grabbed the wall as I went to steady myself, shaking my head to try to clear all the unnecessary noise.

My alpha was feeling emotions too strongly to hide them from me. He’d been fine just a few minutes ago and now…

What the hell could be causing him to feel like this?

I stopped dead when I saw him with our drinks in his hands and everyone in the café whispering as they stared at him. His eyes weren’t on the other patrons though. They were on the people outside, pressing against the windows as they waited for him to exit the café.

Shit. Who told them he was here?

Then they saw me and I felt all the blood drain from my face when they started yelling their questions, insisting he tell them who I was.

I knew this would happen eventually, and I thought I was prepared to deal with it since I knew it was inevitable, but there was no way in hell I could ever be ready to experience just how many eyes would pierce my flesh at one time or how they would look so hungry.

Starving.

This was my worst fucking nightmare come to life and I couldn’t even blame Liam for this one. No, this one was all me.

How the fuck was I supposed to deal with this?

“Get over here, Lucy,” Liam snapped, his alpha command strong enough to make everyone in the café flinch.