Page 16 of Royal Hacker

Patty

I was disappointed when I got up and noticed Sam was gone. Brock was sitting at the kitchen counter. Lemon was lying under his feet. Lemon had left the bedroom early in the morning, but I couldn’t get my ass out of bed to find out what she needed.

“Where’s Sam?” I asked Brock, grabbing a box of Captain Crunch out of the cabinet.

“He went down to the police station. He’s meeting with Chief Haley. When you are ready, we will head over to White Hat Security. The staff thinks we will be working on the ransomware case together.”

“Don’t you think this is a little overkill? He’s not going to do anything to me while I’m at work.”

“If you saw half the things he’s done, you wouldn’t think it’s overkill. One of the women was taken when she went to the bathroom.”

“Fine, you win. Are all Doms this demanding? I feel like I’m back in Shialia, dealing with my father.”

I didn’t wait for Brock to reply. It wasn’t like he would change my mind. I grabbed my cereal and headed toward my room to get ready.

Surprisingly enough, the day flew by. Brock didn’t bother me at all. Bridget walking around the office and complaining about being nine months pregnant was more distracting than Brock.

The only part that annoyed me was that every time I went to the bathroom, he went and stood outside the door.Can’t a girl pee in private?Since he was annoying me, I thought it was time to annoy him back. I hacked into his computer and flipped his display so it was upside down. I added a password so he could not change the setting back. Once he agreed that I could go to the bathroom by myself, I gave him the password. It was time to go home. While working on shutting down my system, I heard the front door chime. The next thing I knew, Sam was coming into my office. My little girly inside got excited because I’d thought I wouldn’t see him until later that night.

I was so excited that I didn’t hold my tongue. “You came to get me? I didn’t think I would see you until tonight.” I tried everything in me not to act like a little schoolgirl, run up to him, and give him a big hug.

“I promised you a date last night, and because of what happened, we didn’t get it. So I thought we could go and have dinner and then go home.”

“Okay, let me grab my things. Thanks for being my babysitter for the day, Brock.”

Shaking his head, Brock laughed and walked out the door. I grabbed my things and followed Sam to his Ford F-150. While we were on our way to the restaurant, Sam informed me the individual they had in custody for the previous murders was paid a million dollars in Bitcoin to confess to the murders. All contact was done through email, and he never met the person asking for him to take the fall for the murders. When we proved he couldn’t be the killer and showed him the evidence, he broke and explained his daughter was sick and needed an expensive surgery. The man was willing to go to jail for life to save his daughter. I told Sam I would like to make sure she got the surgery.

Sam and his team had worked all day coming up with new leads, but everything they found led to another dead end. I had known Brock was working on the case with them all day from my office, and it had taken everything in me not to hack his computer and do a screen share so I could watch his screens. For once in my life, I was trying to let other people help and stay out of it. So Brock’s screens were safe—for the moment—and I was leaving the case in Sam’s hands.

I was so lost in thought about the women in the photos that I hadn’t realized Sam had turned the truck off. We were in the parking lot of my favorite restaurant. I didn’t know how he knew Roy’s was my favorite place to eat. They had a chocolate soufflé to die for. Typically, I would eat only half my filet so I would have room for the soufflé.

Once we sat down, I asked Sam about his family and what had made him join the military. He told me that it was a tradition in his family: his father and grandfather had joined the navy. When he decided to join, he chose the army. A few years in, he was able to get on the Delta Force team.

After twelve years in the military, he was done with the deployments and chose to open his own company, Blackwood.

“Do you have any siblings?”

“Yes, I have two younger brothers. They’re both in the army right now, and they both are trying to get on a Delta Force team.”

“Are they going to work for you when they get out?”

Sam couldn’t reply right away because the waitress brought our food. My filet was sizzling hot. I grabbed my knife and took a bite of the most succulent filet, not waiting for it to cool down. The butter sauce on top was so creamy, it made a moan come from the back of my throat. When I looked up to see why Sam had not answered my question, he was not looking at his mouthwatering butterfish, which was glazed with a honey sauce and sat on top of fried sushi rice. He was staring at me; his pupils were dilated with arousal.

It took Sam a couple more minutes to compose himself before answering my question. “If they want, they can. That will be their choice when they get out,” Sam finally replied. “I met your sister, but what are your brothers like?”

“I have three brothers, but they all work in the royal military. They all try coming a few times a year. I talk to each of them at least once a week. They are extremely protective of Jessica and me.”

“Why don’t you want to take over the crown?”

“I like sitting at a computer and working with technology. I don’t want to have to make decisions that will affect people’s lives.” Father had never officially denounced me from the throne. I think he secretly still wanted me to take over. I didn’t add out loud that if I had the right partner I would consider it. I loved Shialia—the people who lived there were amazing.

We spent the remaining time at the restaurant discussing the politics of my father’s country, what it took to export the gems, and the security we needed to protect the mines.

Once we got back to my apartment, Sam dragged me over to the couch and pulled me onto his lap. Lemon decided she needed to be involved in the conversation and jumped onto the sofa. She laid her head on my leg and shut her eyes.

“Do you want to talk about the research you did?”

“I think I need a bottle of wine for this conversation.” I’d never been a person to say, “Hey, let’s sit down and talk about sex or sex work.” I’d never discussed my sex life with anyone other than my sister.

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