Page 44 of Undercover Hacker

“Zack, settle down. I can take on Antonio myself. I don’t need you fighting my battles.”

Both men grunted.

“When Kat and I were in the parking lot, we saw Sophie bawling. She said she came here to talk to you. What did you say? Kat is trying to calm her down.” Antonio was yelling by the time he was done talking.

I shrugged my shoulders. “I asked her on a date. She said we wouldn’t work and doesn’t want to see me anymore.”

Maybe there was hope after all if she was upset.

“That woman looks like she got her heart ripped out.”

Zack leaned forward. “Sophie broke up with Zane. She thinks she isn’t good enough because she has a medical condition.”

“What’s wrong with her?”

It was nobody business but Sophie’s. I glared at my brother for saying something he had no right to talk about. “It’s nothing life threating. She is still my world. The problem is that she doesn’t want to be in my world.”

“Grow the fuck up and go after your woman. Make her understand that you won’t leave her and will always be by her side.”

Antonio had a point. I needed to figure out a way to make Sophie believe that, no matter what, I would always be by her side.

“I think you have a good point. I’m not giving up.”

Zack stood. “Good. But you need to take care of things in DC first. Then you can fix your love life.” Zack exited the room before I had time to respond.

“Your brother’s an ass, but the stuff in DC does need to be fixed. I’ll watch over Sophie until you get back. Get better, man. You have a battle in front of you.”

That I did. I would get her back. It wouldn’t be right away, but she would be in my life again.

19

Sophie

Three weeks, four days, and six hours. That was how long it had been since I walked out on the love of my life. It was the hardest decision I had ever made. I thought that if I broke it off before it started, it would be easier. But my heart felt like it had been run over by a dump truck.

Nothing seemed to bring me joy. The heartache was so bad that it had caused me to be sick every morning. For the last couple of weeks, I couldn’t keep anything down. The smell of coffee made me gag. The only joy I seemed to find was when I held Antonio Jr. in my arms.

I reached for my phone, willing it to the ring, if only to hear his voice for a few seconds. I asked Brock and Antonio how Zane was. I got the same response from them both. They told me to pick up the phone and call him myself. They both seemed mad at me for leaving Zane.

When Kat had shown up at my car in the hospital parking lot, I told her everything. She had said I needed to get over myself and go apologize to the man. Didn’t these people understand that I wanted Zane to have everything in life?

Bridget swung my door open and came in, followed by Jessica. Inwardly, I groaned. It looked like both of them were in lecture mode. I wasn’t in the mood.

“Looks like she’s feeling sorry for herself,” Bridget said sarcastically. “If only there was a way to make her feel better.”

Every day for the last three weeks, Jessica and Bridget had come into my office to encourage me to contact Zane. The first week, they were sympathetic and listened to me. The second week, they gave me their tamed-down opinions. This week they held nothing back. The filter was gone.

“It’s not like he’s called me,” I snapped.

Jessica played with a plastic bag in her hands. “You left him. Why should he call you?”

Needing a couple seconds to come up with a reply, I clicked the power button on my laptop and waited for it to boot up.

“Have you seen pictures of the man? He’s at a different charity event each night. And, at each event, he has a different woman hanging off his arm. I highly doubt he remembers me.”

A week after I left Zane, I had been sitting at home eating ice cream, trying to wash my sorrow away. I flicked on TMZ to see a picture of the man I cared about flash across the screen. He had a woman on his arm. He looked a lot better than I did.

Bridget leaned forward and rested her elbows on the desk. “You really think he moved on, or is he running a mission?”

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