Page 19 of Misunderstood Hacker

“Neal, have you talked to Patty recently?” I asked. I had been dodging her calls.They didn’t want Patty to know what was going on. Everyone thought she would want to come back to the United States, and that could put her in danger or put more stress on the baby.

Neal responded by pointing his finger at me. “You need to answer her calls. She thinks you’re mad at her, and it’s making her upset.”

“I’m worried I will slip and say something that will make it worse. Is it a psychological fact that people automatically assume you’re mad at them when you’re quiet?”

Before Sophie had time to respond, our waitress, Sally, came over in her fifties-style dress and her hair pulled up into a bun. Sally had to be in her late sixties. She and her husband, Duke, had been running the dinner for the last three years.

“What can I get you?”

Once everyone ordered, Sally roller-skated off, and Sophie gave us her two cents.

“Jessica needs to know what the fuck is going on.” Sophie was a no-bull-shit person and laid things out there. She had almost as bad of a mouth as her boss, Bridget.

It sounded like she was about to say more when Antonio cut her off with his favorite word. “No.”

“When you learn to use more words, I will let you talk,” she said to Antonio before turning to me. “I’ve contacted some sources and have been looking into your crash and car bomb.Your ex-husband has something to do with these men coming after you.”

Sophie had revealed two things that threw me for a loop.First, I didn’t know Sophie was looking into my accidents. From the way Neal’s and Antonio’s jaws tightened, they didn’t know she was looking into my accident, either.Second, how could my ex-husband have anything to do with the accident when he was six feet under?

Talking about my ex-husband always sent a sick feeling through my stomach. I didn’t understand what he could have to do with this.

“Sophie, you know my ex-husband is dead. I saw his body when the mortician needed verification beforeburyinghim.” The thought of seeing his dead body sent another chill down my spine. Doug had no family, and he hadn’t changed his will after we divorced.

For the first time, I saw a tint of pink show on Sophie’s cheeks. “When it came out what your ex-husband had done, I might’ve looked into to him just in case you needed more dirt on the man. I had a contact help me out.”

“Who is this contact, and why does he think Doug has anything to do with this?” Antonio asked, finally developing a vocabulary past the word no.

Before Sophie answered, Sally returned with our food. The smell of my bacon cheeseburger made all worries about Doug fade away. I took a bite of my burger and relished the delicious grease.

Sophie was digging into her salad, trying to deflect the question. Antonio said, “I won’t ask again, Sophie. Who is your contact?” Antonio’s demand didn’t leave much room for argument.

Her shoulders slumped in defeat. “I can tell you what I know, but not how I got it. Doug was in contact with Jessica’s original kidnap—”

I didn’t wait for her to finish speaking. I couldn’t hear it.I took off toward the bathroom and made it just in time for my delicious burger to come back up.The thought of those men made my stomach twist ten times more than thoughts of my ex. The men who had tortured me were in jail.This had to be a mistake.

I slumped to the floor in the bathroom stall, not paying attention to the dirt and grime around me. I wanted to move on with my life with Brock and forget about my past.The problem was that my past wouldn’t go away.

The main door to the bathroom swooshed open. I could hear the clicking of Sophie’s heels walking toward the stall.Once the clicking stopped, there was a soft tap on the stall door.

“I’m sorry I upset you. I want you to know what is going on, and I think Brock and Neal are wrong about withholding information. That information might help you keep yourself safe if you knew what you were looking for.” I could hear the worry in her voice.

Finding out that the men who kidnapped me were behind the attacks didn’t make dealing with it any easier.It just made me more worried.It also made me pissed at Brock for not telling me there was a high chance those men were behind everything.

“Thank you for telling me.Do you think you can give me a ride back to the office?I’m pissed Neal didn’t tell me, and I don’t want to see him right now.” Brock would also get a talking-to when he got back from his mission.

“Yes. Let’s go out the back door so Antonio and Neal won’t know we’ve left.It will give us a few minutes head start before they figure it out.”

I knew I shouldn’t leave my bodyguard, especially now that I knew who was behind the attacks. They were dangerous people.

Sophie and I snuck out the back door of Chubby’s Diner. We made it around the corner of the building where we left the car.When I looked up, I saw Neal looking out the window, and a stream of curse words came out of his mouth.

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