Page 48 of Hacker Beloved

"Why didn't you just come to me?" Zayla questioned. "Why all the killing? You kidnapped me, turned it into a game. I don't understand."

"Well, dear sister," Jasmin snarled in response, "I wouldn't expect you to understand. You're the product of our pathetic father. Papa told me you already knew I was alive."

"That still doesn't answer why you kidnapped me."

While Zayla kept Jasmin distracted, I cautiously inched to the left. If I could reach the computer, I might be able to send a message to Asher.

"I already explained," Jasmin said, waving her gun in the air. "If I didn't need information from you, I would've killed you by now. But that time will come later."

"And your plan?" Zayla dared to ask.

"You two will get that girl for me," Jasmin retorted. "And if you don't, I'll find enough evidence against the Scarlet Scorpions to turn your dear friend Kat over to her enemy. Then I will spend years torturing Asher. One day when he’s close to a breakdown I’ll kill him, as well."

My foot slid on a puddle of water dripping from the ceiling, causing my shoe to squeak against the tile floor. The sound drew Jasmin's attention, and her gun was suddenly trained on me.

"What are you doing?" she growled.

"Can I see the medical report you said was in the stack of folders?" I asked, hoping the request would give me the chance to move closer to the computer and send that crucial message to Asher.

“I guess since you both are going to help me find her anyway…with you here I don’t have to keep paying hackers to find what I need. You are under my control,” Jasmin nodded toward the desk twenty feet away. “But remember, if you try anything, he’ll die instantly.”

Zayla moved in front of me, only a few feet away from her sister. “You changed your hair color, but I know it was you. At the clinic, you were the nurse. How could you do these things to me, to your own sister?” Zayla asked.

Jasmin’s attention was focused on Zayla as she laid out all the reasons why she felt superior to her dear sister. I used the opportunity to run my hand over the stitches in my bicep. My fingertips locked around the string knot, and I tugged. Pain shot through my body as I ripped out the stitches. Blood ran down my arm, but I didn’t stop as I fished for the small capsule and pulled it out of my arm. The pain had caused my attention to drift from their conversation. When I glanced back, Jasmin had the gun raised again.

“You need Zayla…you need her, because if her father hid anything, only her as his beneficiary can retrieve it,” I reminded her.

“Soon, I’ll have the identity of that girl from twenty-five years ago. Then I plan to carve you up exactly how Papa would have done…I’ve watched him enough times, it’d be easy. I’ll do it in memory of him.”

“I’m going to look at the report.” I didn’t wait for a response as I reached out and grabbed Zayla’s hand. I pulled her toward the table and had her sit down. Not bothering to ask, I fell into the chair next her. I pushed back and bumped the desk and the screen saver vanished.

My heart sank as I realized it was six o’clock at night. Part of me expected Asher to burst through the door, but he hadn’t. Our only chance to escape was to get the gun away from Jasmin. With the poison capsule out of my body, our chances of surviving had improved drastically.

Jasmin took out a report from the folder. “See, look at the before and after. Those numbers are insane. That was what happened when the scientists used her blood mixed in a solution to cure fourth stage brain cancer.”

I stared at the sheet, completely lost. I didn’t understand a single thing those numbers meant since I worked with ones and zeros.

Zayla snatched the piece of paper. “This doesn’t say that.”

Out of the corner of my eye, I caught the door move as the nuzzle of the gun poked through the small gap. He’d finally come.

“You're so dumb. I learned this in my first year of nursing school,” Jasmin said.

“But I never went to nursing school,” Zayla countered. “From the way you spoke. It felt like you know everything about my life, but those statements make you sound like an idiot—”

“Zayla!” I cut her off so she didn’t continue. “Your sister is a genius. We aren’t as smart as her. Maybe when all of this is over, I could help your sister. Then you can walk away with Asher.”

Zayla glared up at me, and her eyes softened for a moment as if something had clicked. I had a plan. “Fine. But I still think this is all insane. Besides, you are right. I never wanted two men. All I wanted was to go with Asher, but he won’t ever leave you. So, how do you see that going? He made promises to never walk away, because you mean too much to him.”

Her words stung at first. With the way she spoke with so much venom, I almost believed her for a second.

I jumped from the chair as Zayla rose from her own. She was only a few feet away. I grabbed her arm and pulled her close, “I knew no matter what happened, you would choose him and walk out.” I was trying to tell her no matter what to leave with Asher, and I only hoped she understood.

Zayla brought her knee up and hit my groin. She did it so fast that it looked real to anyone with an outside view. I pretended to groan when she leaned in and whispered. “Even if he’s here to save us. It’s both of us. I’m not leaving you.”

I pretended to fall to the ground and groaned as Zayla stood over me. “You’re pathetic.”

Jasmin moved closer, her eyes on Zayla with the gun pointed straight at her. “I knew he would choose me. All it took was for me to prove I’m smarter than you. I caught you twice. If I didn’t need you, I would kill you this very second. But the thought of fucking CJ in front of you sounds intriguing.”

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