Page 602 of Dark Love

Foolish man. “You couldn’t stop it. I’m the only one that can fight those battles. You can support me. But I decide how I live.”

“Anything you need, I’ll do. But Dahlia, those pictures mean nothing to me. You were a child.”

“A stupid child that became a weak woman.”

“Don’t say that. The woman sitting in front of me is anything but weak. She fought to have a life. And if you need a break, time to reset and try again, we’ll do that together. Because whatever happened and whatever might happen in the future, I love you and I’m proud of you.”

Small steps feel so big.

“Now about those vegetables…”

Drugs And Deadmen

Vex

Listening to my gut has saved my life a dozen times, but this time it feels really wrong. Little things that Dahlia said keep playing over and over in my head. I can’t let it go. Why would someone keep doing that to her? Who hurt her?

I need to know.

And there’s only one way to find out… track it back to its source. The simplest way to do that is with a hacker.

But there’s no way I want Shock searching for that video. Not that I want anyone searching for it, but I can’t let this go. My skills aren’t up to digging deep into this.

A name is all I need. Someone to hire to get the job done. Another woman that won’t leer at Dahlia. No one in their right mind is leering at a fifteen-year-old.

Get over yourself and find the answer.

Max opens the door. “If you keep showing up like this, I’m going to start thinking we’re friends.”

Not going to happen. “You look terrible.”

“I just flew back from Australia, and Hope decided she wanted to talk instead of sleeping. When a teenage girl decides that she wants to talk, run. Hide. Sell your soul. Do whatever it takes to get away,” he’s grinning even as he says it. “Come on in.”

I follow Max into the living room.

“You look like you’re about ready to crawl out of your skin. And for someone that two months ago I would have sworn didn’t have any emotions, it’s kind of freaky. What’s going on?”

Don’t explain. Ask for the favor and walk away. “I need the name of a hacker.”

“Did something happen to Shock?” That got Max’s attention.

“He’s fine. A pain, but fine. I need a female hacker.”

“A female hacker…” Max gets quiet.

Is he thinking of a name or trying to figure out why I need one?

“This is about Dahlia’s video.”

“You know about that?” Has he seen Dahlia? I might need to kill Max, too.

“She lives near my family.”

Makes sense. Even though I wish it didn’t. “Did you watch the video?”

“Eww. No. You’d need to be a perv to watch that. She was a kid. I got about five seconds in and turned it off. These kids nowadays are stupid. Don’t they understand these videos never go away?”

“I don’t think Dahlia was stupid. If I’m right, someone drugged her.”

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