Page 26 of Tied

“Would you have answered my call?” I ask. “Or responded to a message, a text, an e-mail?”

Riley tries her best to hide it, but I can see the guilt washing over her as she contemplates her response to me.

“No.”

No matter how hurtful that answer may be, at least it’s the truth.

“See, and I knew that,” I explain. “I needed to get you in a place where you’d be forced to hear me out—and where no is not an option.”

She huffs and shakes her head violently while gesturing around the room.

“So you fucking kidnapped me?” she bursts out. “Because of the things you know about me? Because you thought this was the right way to lure me into doing something I don’t want to do?”

She pauses for a moment, the expression on her face laced with worry when she concludes, “And... what do you mean by ‘no is not an option’? What am I supposed to make of that?”

She looks hurt and—finally—terrified when she catches my eyes now.

“I need you for a special operation, a task that should come easy to a woman like you,” I begin to explain.

“A woman like me?” The crease between her eyebrows reappears, and this time, it’s deeper than ever.

I simply nod.

“Yes, a woman with your skills—and your predisposition.”

She lets out an impatient groan, which brings a smile to my face. We’ve only met up for a very short time, but I know Riley well enough to know how much she fucking hates it when people beat around the bush.

“What do you even mean by that, Cain?”

“What I mean is your programming—or rather, hacking—skills and your female allure.”

She gasps and pulls the duvet closer around herself. Her lips are moving as if to form words, but she remains silent, only investigating me with a questioning—and horrified—look while she waits for me to elaborate.

I finally have her attention where I need it—ready to hear the truth.

The full truth.

“I am not who you think I am, Riley,” I begin, piercing her in place with my alert and intense gaze as I speak. “My name is not Cain Hewett, and I’m not an investor in cybersecurity applications.”

She swallows dryly, but doesn’t dare say a word. Still, I can see the hurt in her expression. I lied to her, even about something as basic as my name.

“I’m a criminal. I have assumed a lot of names and done a lot of things over the years that most men would not be proud of. Illegal things, cruel things—violent things. It wasn’t exactly a choice, but it had to be done.”

The furrow between her eyebrows remains as she waits for me to go on.

“I need you to get close to a certain man, another criminal. I need you to come really close to him, to seduce him, if you want to call it that. I need you to make him trust you so he will take you with him into his home, his operating space, or wherever the hell he keeps his servers and computers. I need you to gain access to these computers and hack into them for—”

“What?” she cuts me off in a shrill voice. “You can’t be serious, this is—”

“Illegal and dangerous, yes,” I complete her sentence. “I told you. It’s not an easy task to say yes to, but I need you to do this.”

“Why?” she repeats her favorite question.

“Because there is no other way,” I respond vaguely. “It’s the only way I can get my revenge.”

“Revenge for what?”

Now I’m the one who has to swallow hard. I’m the one fighting for words because—much to my surprise—the truth still doesn’t cross my lips easily. It still hurts as much as it did back then. And I know it always will, unless I get this done.

Still, Riley needs to hear it. She needs to hear why I’m putting her through all of this.

She needs to hear the truth that I’ve been too stubborn to share with anyone else.

“Revenge for what, Cain?” she implores, leaning forward with an intrigued look on her face.

And I finally get myself to say the words that I’ve been to afraid to say for years.

“Revenge for the death of my parents.”

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