Page 18 of Hacker Salvation

I took another sip of my dark coffee. “We leave at sundown.”

“You think bringing the girl along is the best idea?”

I wanted to screamNo!I’d spent an hour on the phone with Brock the night before, talking about my concerns. But for some reason, the man had lost his fucking mind and thought that Annabella leaving town was the best idea in case someone was after her.

“It doesn’t matter. Brock set this all in motion. I’m going to drop her passport off this morning. Neal found someone locally for us to use to get her a change of identification.”

Annabella’s face had been all over the news for the past couple of days. Top Movie Star Suspected in Killing Her Fiancé. Every picture that had been taken of her in the past ten years was being analyzed as people tried to figure out if she was capable of murder.

“Okay. See you tonight, boss.” Fucker hung up the phone before I could say anything.

I took the last sip of my coffee when Aaron walked into the kitchen. He grabbed a cup out of the cupboard and poured himself some coffee. “That tastes like shit,” Aaron grumbled before pouring his down the drain.

“I made it on the lighter side.” I glanced at the clock and saw that it was six in the morning. “What are you doing up so early?”

Aaron took the pot of coffee and poured what was left into my cup before preparing another pot. “Daisy woke up from a nightmare. She and Neal are showering. I came down to make coffee and breakfast. Why are you up?”

“Too much on my mind. Is Daisy still seeing a psychiatrist?”

He pulled out eggs and bacon from the fridge. “She talks to her psychiatrist each week and does video calls when she’s out here. It breaks my heart when she wakes up screaming. In the past few months, she’s told me stories about what happened. I wish I could go back in time and kill the fucker.”

I shifted in my seat. The day we rescued Daisy came to mind. The dungeon her captor had held her in in his basement was nothing like a BDSM club. Torture chamber was a more accurate description.

“I still can’t believe Brock is letting Annabella come look for Nate,” I told Aaron.

Annabella stormed into the kitchen and placed her hands on her hips. “Letme? What day and age are we living in? I have every right to be a part of this.”

I sighed. “We don’t know what we’re getting into. And on top of that, if I went alone, I could fly down, check out what’s going on, and be back within a day.”

“This is my life. You can do whatever you want, but I plan to find Nate.”

Aaron rested his hip against the counter and watched Annabella and I talk back and forth. He wore a smirk across his face.

I could feel my jaw tense. “Do you not understand how dangerous this is? When we left Nate’s office yesterday, we saw two mob employees. On top of that, Pedro’s mom was threatened, and the police want to make an example out of you.”

Annabella grabbed a cup and poured herself a cup of the freshly brewed coffee Aaron had made. “I know it’s dangerous. I need this.”

“Why?”

She looked up from her coffee. Her green eyes held sadness for a quick second before she blinked it away. “I don’t need to explain to you why.”

“Fine. I need your passport.” When it looked like she was going to argue, I explained. “The paparazzi have been waiting outside the courthouse all morning.” My phone still had the morning gossip column displayed in the browser. I held it up for her to see. “Let me take your passport in, and you can get ready. We’re going to be on a sailboat for three to four days.”

She rolled her pretty eyes. “I know. It’s not like I haven’t been on one of Aaron’s boats before.”

“Yes, you’ve been on his yacht. But you know that little sailboat that hangs off the side? That is what we’re taking. One of the large yachts needs multiple people to run. We can’t risk hiring people we don’t know. Your image is plastered on every screen. If you flee and someone finds out, there will be a reward to turn you in.”

Annabella grabbed a muffin off the counter. “If you’re so against me going, why are you doing this?”

I was doing it because I couldn’t imagine anything happening to her, but I wasn’t going to say that out loud. “Because it’s my job.”

Annabella’s sparkling eyes dimmed. “Fine. Let me go grab my passport.” She turned on her heel and left.

No matter how badly I wanted to explain the real reason, which was that she had wormed herself into my heart over the past two days, it was important that I keep her at a safe distance so I could do my job.

“Dude,” Aaron muttered. “Your job?”

“I didn’t lie. It’s my job to get her to Nicaragua and find Nate.”

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