Page 24 of Misunderstood Hacker

“The reason I went with Neal earlier was that someone sent me photos of me being tortured. I didn’t want you to see them.” I could tell by the hiccup in her voice she was crying.

Not wanting to have this conversation without seeing her eyes, I turned her so she was facing me. I swiped my thumb over her cheek to wipe away the tears.

“Why would you think the photos would make me care any less for you? It might be too early to say this, but I love you, Jessica.”

“How can you love me after seeing those photos? They make me look weak and degraded.”

I tried to keep my anger under control. I wanted to kill those men for what they did to her. “If I read the report correctly, there were eight men holding you. You couldn’t have fought off eight men. No one could have. Why should that make you look weak?”

“I think seeing the photos, the connection between Doug and Axmed, not being kept in the loop, and trying to keep this all from Patty is making me crazy.”

Understanding where she was coming from and wanting to do anything to make her happy, I said, “Tomorrow morning, the team is meeting here at nine. We have a call scheduled with Patty and Sam. I will keep you in the loop with everything that is going on.”

“Brock?”

“Yes, sweetheart?”

“I love you too. I was so wrapped up in my own misery today that I never asked how your case went.”

I didn’t want her to know I almost died in a bomb explosion because the FBI’s team had been compromised. But I knew I couldn’t keep things from her anymore, especially with the team coming over in the morning. So I told her how I double-checked the video feed to find out the tech guy was lying about what was going on in the building.

“Why do you have to do fieldwork? I don’t want to lose you.” Her words made the crappy day a lot better.

“I’ve been in worse situations than I was in today. How do you think I feel with you in danger? I don’t want to lose you, either. It’s late, and we have a big day tomorrow. We can talk more later.”

Jessica rolled back over on her side, and when I pulled her into my arms, I became extremely hard.

I heard her giggle, and it sounded like music. “Do you need me to take care of that?”

“No.” I grumbled, “Let’s get some sleep.”

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