Page 12 of Unspoken Promises

Rio undoes his top button and rolls up his sleeves, revealing the tattoos he typically covers for meetings. He raises his glass, and I do the same. We drink.

His words are heavy. “Promise me having Ava here isn’t going to fuck us.”

I don’t answer because my brother knows I don’t promise anything. I stopped making promises a long time ago.

Rio knows why, which is why he doesn’t push for one again. “Give me something close, because this woman is suspicious.”

“I’m watching.”

I understand Rio’s hesitation; I’m hesitant, too. It must have taken either a powerful pull or a powerful push to drive Ava here early with only a backpack to her name. It remains to be seen which one it is. Either can spell trouble.

Rio stands and leans against the counter behind him. “The girl has no real online presence, no online photos, no bank account, no state-issued ID. And the guards told me she arrived on foot with only a backpack.” He states the obvious. “This is shady. She’s twenty-five, for God’s sake, and she doesn’t have an Instagram? I can believe she doesn’t have a driver’s license, but no state ID? At her age?”

“She wanted cash, too,” I add, knowing it’s going to piss my brother off.

He scrubs a hand down his face and shakes his head, disapproving.

It gets worse.

“And the signatures on her contracts weren’t a close match.”

Now his jaw totally drops. “The hell, Zo? You let a hackerwith no ID into our home, onto our systems… You said this hacking contest was a good thing and some degenerate shows up.”

“She’s not a degenerate.”

“I know I shouldn’t insult her but…”

“You’re insultingbothof us. I’d like to think a degenerate wouldn’t have been capable of cracking my life’s work.”

He runs his fingers through thick dark strands and holds his tongue.

He’s right to be edgy. So am I. I learned the hard way not to take people at face value. I’ve been wrong before. So very wrong the collateral damage still lives in my bloodstream. So very wrong I’ll never forgive myself for that lapse in judgement, even if it was more than twenty years ago.

I don’t take this lightly, and even though Ava tried to be friendly, it will be impossible for us to be friends. I don’t trust her. I won’t trust her.

Trust is the ultimate Achilles heel.

Like Rio, I know there’s something off about Ava, that much is clear. I need to lean into that feeling so I don’t mess up. I need to stay on my toes, because the one time I didn’t, I let trouble right through the door. Literally. Andthiscould ruin everything we built and stand for, because Ava brings more skill and talent in her pinky finger than anyone else we’ve ever hired.

He raises his glass and points his finger at me at the same time. “This is on you if shit goes down.”

Rio knows accountability is both my best and worst trait, and that I assume responsibility for this. But the words slip out of him because he’s always been the ominous, threatening type.

“Mmm,” is all I can answer from behind my deep thoughts.

He reads the small, wordless sound like the story of my life and calms down.

He, of all people, knows I don’t take this lightly. Someone with her ability needs to be kept at arm’s length.

Regurgitating our concerns about Ava will get us nowhere. My twin and I are very different, but in some things we are as identical as our DNA.What’s done is done.

For as bad as it could be on the one hand, there’s a beautiful balance here. We also both know this girl next door might be our hope for protecting GhostEye. Sometimes, you just have to take the risk. There are far too many people out there who would love to destroy us, and far too few fortifying our defenses. If she turns out to be clean, she could end up being priceless and worth every stupid decision I made with her in my office.

Her brains and ability got her halfway to me giving in to her unexpected demands. The other half? There was just something in her honey gaze that stirred me to take the chance. I refuse to believe it’s anything other than good intuition. If I’m wrong, my brother will make sure I take that decision to an early grave.

“So…” Rio tries to lighten the mood, but since he’s a serious man it only pivots to another shitstorm. “Santi told me he suggested she work on the Mexico hacks?” He scratches the corner of his eye. “We probably shouldn’t have told him about that at all. He didn’t mention it to Ava?”

“He’s reckless but he knows how to keep things to himself.”

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