Page 87 of Exposed

“Your secret is safe with me.” I put my hand over hers where it rests on my heart. “Now, I’m going to sing you to sleep.”

I kiss her good night, then turn her body so I can spoon her. She’s asleep in no time while I sing to her and kiss her shoulder.

My dad taught me that men can be strong and gentle. I’ve got good memories of him singing me to sleep at night occasionally. Jasmine never had anyone to sing her to sleep when she was a kid, but she has me to do it for her now.

After she falls asleep, it takes me longer. Her warm, sexy body next to mine gives me blue balls. Totally worth it though.

35

PRICE OF FREEDOM

MATT

With the burner phone in hand the next day, we dial the number that Merrit gave us.

“Merrit,” she answers with a southern accent.

“Why do you have a different voice?” I ask.

“It’s a voice changer. I’ve got 80 different accents I use, so no one can recognize my voice,” she explains in her Southern twang. “Now, give me details.”

“Tell us your qualifications,” I say. I’m reserved, not wanting to get dumped by another hacker.

“I’m not a hacker, I’m a cyber crime investigator. I use legal methods to obtain my information. Mostly, anyway. I used to work for a government agency, but I freelance on my own now. What do you need?”

“We need you to gain access to Titan Securities interface.An email account was hacked, and we have to know who did it,” Pepper explains.

“Titan Securities,” she muses. I hear typing on a computer.

Simon starts to fuss, so I hold him up and tickle his chest with my nose.

“Huh. They had quite the scandal a couple of months ago. Looks like they need help. I can do it for you.”

“Wait,” I say. “You can do it?”

“Sure. I’ll go in, tell them I’m a cyber crime investigator and offer my services to help them avoid another fiasco like the one that happened a couple of months ago. Then, I’ve been legally approved to sift through their electronic files. Whatever I’ve found can be used in court, because it’s been found through legal means.”

“How are you going to convince them to use you?” Matt inquires.

“I’ve been in the business a long time, Little Women,” she uses Matt’s call name from the hacker chat with a hint of a smile in her voice. “Leave it to me. What email address am I searching?”

She looks at me hesitantly.

“It’s okay, Pepper,” I whisper. She takes a deep breath, then shares, “[email protected].”

Your name is safe with me, princess.

“Good girl,” I murmur as I press a kiss to the top of her head.

“Got it. What’s the timeframe I’m looking at?” Merrit asks.

“There were dozens of false emails sent from that account on November 10th. They show offshore accountswhere stolen money was being sent and confirmation of insider information sold, but that user didn’t commit any of those crimes.”

“Got it. You’re looking at between $50,000-$100,000 total. I’ll need a money wire transfer of $10,000 before I start.”

“Done,” I agree, and she gives me the address for the wire transfer.

“I’ll let you know the exact price when I find something. I’ll call you back on this phone.” With that, Merrit ends the call.

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