Page 3 of Hacker Betrayed

"Go with your brother," Dad said. "A lot has changed over the years. Nothing I say will make up for the scars on your body, but come back after you get your son. I would like to meet him and have dinner with my daughter."

All I did was nod. I had no plan on making good on the request. Mom opened her mouth, but I held my hand up and rushed through the house with Sebastian only a few steps behind me. I climbed into my car and pulled out my phone. The only text was from my boss reminding me about my mission. I was thirty minutes late, but Lucas was my only concern.

The passenger side door opened, and Sebastian slid in.

"Where?" I asked as I put the car in drive.

"Only one group would kidnap a kid and kill a woman. They aren't part of our organization, Dalia. They run their jobs out of a house in the Overtown neighborhood." Sebastian paused. "There are things about your past I can't talk about. It's not my story to tell..."

Overtown, Miami was one of the neighboring cities of Little Havana. It seemed like all the bad bordering cities were some of the worst in Miami.

My fingers tightened around the steering wheel, not wanting to listen to the excuses for why my brother never came for me. "All I want is my son to be safe," I shot back.

He pulled out his phone and tapped against the screen. A second later, it dinged. "My connection said the group I'm talking about has recently done a job. These guys are dangerous, Dalia."

"Mia," I corrected him. "Dalia died in the boat crash."

"Fine, Mia. Why don't you let me get a few people together and we'll search for your son? You don't know what you are getting into."

I wasn't the sister he grew up with. I'd spent time in the Navy and the CIA. There were crimes and heinous acts I witnessed over my career. "Don't worry about me. If you want backup for yourself, I'm okay with you sitting back. I'm sure Dad doesn't want his golden child hurt. Who would take over the family business?" Even I heard the sneer in my voice but couldn’t bring myself to care.

Sebastian sighed. "I'm going with you. This crew uses the same house because they know nobody will mess with them. I was just thinking the rescue mission might be easier if we have a few people."

It would be more people I didn't know. The possibility of my brother leading me into an ambush was still high. I wouldn't trust anyone he called. "I'm going alone."

He didn't say anything else as I weaved the vehicle through traffic for the next thirty minutes to a run-down neighborhood. Sebastian pointed out the yellow house as I drove by.

* * *

"You don't haveto come with me," I said to Sebastian as I unbuckled my seat belt and ignored the beep from my phone. I was late for our meeting and if I answered my boss’s call, I would need to answer questions I had no time for. Getting Lucas back was my priority.

"I'm not letting you go in there alone." Sebastian pulled off his suit jacket, tossed it in the back seat, and rolled up the sleeves of his white button-down shirt. Growing up, my brother spent hours in the gym working out. He still had large biceps, but that didn't mean he could handle what we were about to walk into.

"This is what I do for a living," I said. "All I wanted from you was a possible location for Lucas. They could have kidnapped someone else as much as we know. I'm sure breaking down the door isn't going to make the relationship easy for the family's organization."

"I'm not letting you go in alone." He pulled his gun from his holster.

I grabbed my extra weapon from under my seat and tucked it in my waistband. "Why are you doing this?"

"Protecting my twin sister?"

"Sounds more like a question than an answer," I countered.

I yanked my Glock out of the holster and stared up at the house. Having my brother along for backup would help, or this was finally the time the family would take me out, because I wasn't one hundred percent convinced they weren't against me. Sebastian found my son's location too fast. Of course, going in without my team was a dumb decision, and if my boss figured out what I did, he would lecture me for hours, but I had to get my mind on the task in front of me.

All that mattered was getting vengeance against the people who killed Tabitha and took Lucas.

"I know you don't trust me," Sebastian sighed. "But we should stop and call for backup, and assess the situation. We don't know how many men are behind the door."

"We’ve discussed this. My son could be waiting for me. Calling for help will take too long. If you're worried, you can stay here and text your men." I glanced at my brother. "Unlike our parents, I would die to protect my boy. I've sacrificed not seeing him to keep him safe for years. My ties to the Clark name could be the reason he's in danger. No matter how much I try, I'll never escape this family."

Sebastian cocked his head to the side. "How do you know her murder or Lucas's kidnapping are connected to us?" He waved his hands at the house. "Your team took down the RKC operation a few weeks ago. Have you considered someone from that organization is looking into the people involved with destroying part of their money flow? I know you would like to blame Dad and Mom, but there might be more to why."

Ricardo Calhoun ran the RKC gang in Overtown, Miami. He was the brother of my late husband. They didn't cross their organizations much only to profit off each other. I'd only met him a couple of times when I was married to Cyrus, but I didn't want to chance seeing him when the FBI brought the case to Brock for further investigation on a hacker level. It didn’t matter that years prior, I had enough plastic surgery to change my appearance so software systems couldn't identify my face as Cyrus’s dead wife. I offered to take a bodyguard mission in California.

My phone vibrated in my pocket, and I pulled it out and groaned when I saw my friend Kat’s name across the screen.

Kat: Hey, girl! I was texting you good luck for tonight, but Asher pulled your GPS location. So, you're a hell of a long ways from the club. What are you doing near Overtown?

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