Page 75 of The Secrets We Share

“You went through my texts?”

“That’s the least of our fucking problems. Do you even know who you’ve been scheming with?” I shout, and she cringes against the headboard.

That’s only until her eyes light with fire, and she tries to get up on her knees to take me on, face to face. She sucks in a pained breath at the shift, and my anger drains at the pain written allover her face. I move to help her, but she slaps my hands away, finding her balance.

“You don’t understand. I have the chance to keep him out of my life forever.”

“Sweetness.” I soften. “What if it’s him? You’re putting yourself in danger just by engaging with whoever this is. Did you even try to track it?”

Her eyes narrow and roll. “Of course I did. I weighed the options. It’s worth the risk.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“You would have tried to talk me out of it.”

“You’re damn fucking right, I would have. This is idiotic.”

“Fine. It’s stupid, I know that. But I don’t care. You weren’t involved before; you don’t have to be involved now. Just let me handle it.”

My patience snaps. Shoving her back to the mattress, disregarding her cry of discomfort, I climb over her before gripping her chin in a tight hold.

“That’s not how this works, Keira. You don’t get to run off and make crazy decisions that put your life at risk. Not anymore.”

She tries to yank free from my grasp, but I refuse to let her go until she understands. If anything were to happen to her and I could have stopped it, I’d lose my fucking mind.

“You’re not going to call off this harebrained scheme, are you?”

“No.”

“Then we’re in this together.” I drop a kiss on her forehead and push off her soft body. “Now get some sleep, and we can figure this out later.”

She relaxes into the mattress and gives me a small nod. I’ll let her sleep for a few hours, but we’re on a time clock. The drop istomorrow evening, and this new information could spin all our plans into a web that catches us all.

I don’t need her device to go through her phone, just the clone I made ages ago that sits tucked in my desk for times like these. I refuse to mindlessly follow someone who knows too much for my comfort. Keira doesn’t know who it is, but I have an idea. Regardless of how unlikely it might be, I need to check.

I open the phone and plug it into my computer. She said she tracked them but couldn’t find anything. It's not shocking if it’s a burner, but I have something up my sleeve that Keira wasn’t likely to think about. I open another browser, using my link to access the dark web, where I can search for her footprint.

Something else dawns on me, and I pop to another screen to run a diagnostic check on my system. She was gone by the time we started planning for the job. How would she have known about it? The code runs, and I pray to a God I don’t believe in that I wasn’t that careless and stupid.

The number doesn’t produce any leads. Keira was right with that one. I search the boards for jobs that could lead to a connection. When I spot it, I’m down a rabbit hole, and my system to the left freezes.

“Fuck!”

I switch gears, digging into the code where the hole now is, how she got in. She knows, and now she owes me an explanation.

I rip the cloned phone from the cord, disconnecting it to the computer, and type the number into my own burner. I don’t bother with a threatening text, going straight for a call. It rings and rings; the tone coming through isn’t from the US.

“Papa Pete’s Pizza, what can I get for you today?”

“Hello, Nikita.”

THIRTY-FOUR

KEIRA

Do or Die - Natalie Jane

My body is sore, and I’m shaky on my feet, but other than that, I’m strong enough to peel myself from the bed and search for Harkin. It’s well into the witching hour, and I expected him to wake me so we could talk. The pain pills coursing through my veins have the replay of our fight from earlier foggy in my head. The living room and kitchen lie cloaked in darkness while the lights from the streetlamps cast an eerie glow. Maybe it’s the day to come, looming in the wings.

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