Page 26 of Escape You

“Special Agent Cole, stand down.”

Without a password, I couldn’t get to his hard drive. Lucky for me—and by extension, Rebecca—my brother Derek was a bit of a hacker. He’d showed me a thing or two.

“Tyler, stop.”

“I just want to take a quick peek.”

The laptop was already off. I depressed the On button, then entered the key combination to pull up the single-user mode screen. If I could hack in and create an admin account, I could turn his camera into my own personal spyware. I knew from experience that whatever information the FBI gathered would become classified the minute it left the premise. I had to do my own recon work if I was going to help Rebecca and this situation developing with Mia and me.

I typed the code just as Derek had done one night when we were drunk and he was showing off. The computer shut down on its own and rebooted. When it came back on, I was prompted to create an admin account of my choosing.

“He’s on the elevator, Tyler. Get out of there now.”

“Dammit.” I jerked to my feet. I’d have to come back later to take over his camera and delete the hacker admin account before his security team figured out I’d been snooping around.

“I’ll see you tonight, Mavell.” I took the earpiece out. The silence and peace that surrounded me felt good. I bolted out of the room and ran into Mia right outside the door. “What the hell?”

“Who were you talking to?”

I opened my mouth to make up an answer when the elevator door slid open, and Jac saved me from having to lie to her.

“Did you tell her?” he asked when he spotted us in the middle of the living room.

“Yes. I did. We were just on our way up to get ready.”

“Get to it.” He strolled past us and went into his study with his bodyguards trailing behind him.

I needed a few more minutes. I rubbed the side of my face. If Mia hadn’t been in his office, I would have had time to finish the job. When I met her gaze, she looked at me as if she had something to say. I didn’t give her a chance to mess with my calm anymore. “Party starts at six. Wear something nice.”

“Chase,” she called after me.

I took long strides to get away from her fast. When I reached the hallway upstairs, I turned to see if she was following. Had I hoped she’d stalk me into my bedroom? Yeah, just about every night. I’d hoped she come to me of her own volition before the wedding. But it was obvious she wasn’t interested. I slammed the bedroom door.

The terrace doors stood open, letting in a warm breeze. This Central Park view would be much more impressive if my life and Mia’s weren’t on the line every passing moment. I braced my hands on the red brick. If Jac decided to check his computer, he would very quickly discover the hacker profile I created. I put the earbud back in.

“Mavell, you there?”

“Yeah. You’re good. It’s all about the guest list tonight. He’s not touching his computer. Nice work. We have ears and eyes in all the main areas.”

“Thanks. I’ll go back later tonight and clean up my mess.”

“Maybe next time you’ll listen to me.”

“Maybe.” He wasn’t the one sleeping in the lion’s den.

I shut off the device and stuffed it back in a medicine bottle I kept in the bathroom. I ran the water and took off my shirt. A shower sounded like a good idea. I glanced at my reflection in the mirror and the tattoos I had to get for this job. Would Mia notice the difference? If we didn’t produce any evidence to hang Jac soon, Mia and I would end up married, and I would have a lot of explaining to do.

I stood under the rain shower, letting the usual Mia movie play in my head. By now, I’d stopped fighting it. For tonight, Jac had asked me to stay close to Mia, in case she decided to broker a new alliance. The old man didn’t trust anyone, not even the Big 5. He wasn’t wrong there. But Mia would never put her crew at risk. I knew that about her now. Her family came first. Playing Mia’s babysitter tonight would be hell—being close to her always was.

A knock on the door startled me out of my daydreaming. “Come in.” I shut off the water and grabbed a towel off the rack.

“Just dropping off your suit for tonight, sir.” A young woman stood in the middle of the room. Her cheeks turned bright red, eyes wide, when she saw I had nothing on but a bath towel.

“Just leave it there on the bed. Thank you.”

“You’re very welcome, Mr. Rossi. Um, your grandfather wants to see you.”

I started to say just Tyler but bit my tongue instead. Unlike Mia, one of Jac’s maids would definitely care if all of a sudden, I didn’t want to be called Chase or Mr. Rossi. Truth was, I only minded it when Mia called me that.

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