Page 121 of Sinister Intentions

Vince narrowed his eyes. “Not connected?”

“There was the initial hack, which was clearly an outside job.” The guy’s eyes flicked to me, and my body tensed.

This was it—the moment of truth. I straightened, ready to face whatever came next.

“As discussed, we followed the money, and surprisingly, most of it went to charity,” the guy continued.

Vince nodded, which took me by surprise. “We didn’t find any traces other than the one hint at the Mac address.” He gave me a look full of disdain, almost like a big brother who was thoroughly disappointed in me.

I sucked in air. That was how Vince found out about me? Through my Mac address? My head started spinning. Did I make a mistake? Probably. Very likely. Damn.

Vince’s gaze flicked to me, and he laid his hand on my neck and squeezed, then winked at me.

I almost choked on my tongue. How could something that had been such a big deal end in a wink?

I pressed my eyes closed, and when I opened them again, I met Hawk’s gaze. His eyebrow was raised, and he looked at me like a disappointed uncle.

Damn.

But to my surprise, nobody said anything. Apparently, they’d accepted my participation and had moved on already.

“The second ongoing hack is most likely an inside job. Someone must’ve realized what was going on and piggybacked on the first vulnerability.”

A second hack?

I focused back on Vince, who seemed lost in thought.

“It’s an inside job,” Hawk stated.

Vince nodded. “Can you find out who?”

The other guy, who had been silent until now, nodded. “We’ll need full access to personnel files.”

Vince pulled out his phone and made a call.

And I was standing there dumbfounded. It was almost anti-climactic, but the role I was playing in Vince’s world was so much more insignificant than I’d imagined.

He really was battling enemies much greater and apparently much closer.

I took a step closer to Vince and took his hand.

“They siphoned almost ten mil. We’re tracing it, but whoever is behind this knows what they’re doing,” the other guy said.

Vince sighed, and I squeezed his hand.

He side-eyed me and then gave me a little smile and squeezed my hand back.

Like a real team.

Holy shit.

How had I ended up here? Next to Vince, fucking Salvini—the Evil Prince himself—ready to throw all logic to the wind and fall head over heels for a uber-bossy man I barely knew. And why did I suddenly feel like I wanted to protect him, to stand by his side and face all the challenges and dangers together?

Like a couple.

I took a deep breath—which did absolutely nothing for my thundering heart. I wasn’t only drawn to Vince, to the intensity of his gaze, to the way he made me feel both accepted and challenged, protected and protective.

I thought back to the moment after Italy when I first decided to get deeper into hacking. When I joined the group, immersed myself into that virtual world.

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