Page 178 of Dark Love

A knock sounds on my office door. It’s too early for Max to be here. “Gotta go.” I click off the phone. “Come in.”

Shock bounces in. “Did you get it? Tell me you got it, and that’s why you had me clear my schedule this afternoon.”

How is Shock going to handle the fact that he’s going to meet Massimo Vincenti? “Sort of.”

“That isn’t an answer. There are only two choices.” Shock taps his leg. “Did you get it?”

“It will arrive at three today.”

“You got it. You actually got it.” Shock's eyes practically go in circles. “How long can I keep it? There can’t be very many prototypes. This is wonderful. I need to go get set up. There isn’t a moment to waste.”

“It doesn’t come without contingencies.”

Shock freezes. “What contingencies?”

“Massimo Vincenti will be here at three.”

“No. NO! He can’t come.”

“Max knows about what you will be researching.”

“He can’t because you don’t even know. You need to get me the tech without him.”

Could Shock have been compromised? Those are the words of a man up to no good. “You have two seconds to explain what that means.”

“I’m doing a project of my own. The tech will help with your research, but mainly, I needed it for my own project.”

Take a breath before you chew out the best hacker you’ve ever found. “What project?” Is it that one for a girl?

“You don’t want to know.”

I might not, but I need to. “Tell me.”

“You can’t tell her.”

A woman! All of this is about a woman. “Now.”

“Barb. It’s about Barb.”

Don’t whap Shock upside the head. You might knock something loose. “Does Barb know about this little research project on her behalf?” Lie to me.

“No. I was going to look for her parents.”

Shock has gone off the deep end. “That isn’t for you to decide. If she wants to search for them, then you can help, but you don’t get to decide for her.”

“I’m going to do this.”

Stupid man doing stupid things for a woman. “Why?”

“Because bad things have a way of popping back up. In order to protect her, I need to know what monsters are lurking in her closet. She’ll never know. It’s just to keep her safe.”

That makes too much sense. I’d do the same for Dahlia in a heartbeat. “What right do you have to keep her safe?”

“None… yet. But she’s going to be mine.”

“I don’t need to remind you about what I do.” That’s more of a reminder than a threat.

“It’s not like that. It could never be like that.”

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