Page 13 of Unspoken Promises

“We can’t put Ava on that…”

“Goes without saying.”

The Mexico hacks have been a plague. The hacks haven’t resulted in any tangible loss but made us compromise our integrity. For some in business, that’s an everydayoccurrence, for us? It’s rotting us from the inside out because our dad taught us that if you have to cheat to win, you don’t deserve to win. Karma looms over our shoulders.

It wasn’t right to hide these weaknesses in our system from Thad, our big investor.

But it’s only been less than a year since we’ve been able to take GhostEye out of the red and turn a real profit. Until a year ago when Thaddeus Getty entered the picture, we were running hard on loans to fund our offices and staff, and Santi hit a wall being able to expand his stud and training business because we leaned too heavily on his contributions.

Now, with Thad’s funding we’ve grown the business. It’s now far beyond what any of us could afford to fund if Thad pulled out. The company would collapse. We’d be sending hundreds of employees home without paychecks; many have families. I dragged Rio into GhostEye and bankruptcy would tar his name as a CEO.

And, of course, what I spent my life working for, to catch criminals, it might have all been for nothing.

The hacker or hackers have never made themselves known. All touchpoints were in Mexico. All from completely unrelated IP addresses. The locations plotted on a map seem to be coming together in a big ring right around my parents’ old hometown in Ensenada. It’s been forty years since they immigrated. In fact, we hardly have any family left there at all or this would be even more terrifying as the circle closes in on what feels like a very specific threat.

What will happen when the circle is complete? What do they want? And can we keep it a secret from Thad, who might be eccentric at times but doesn’t want to gamble hundreds of millions.

Someone has hacked the hackers.

So it’s me on the case, and only me, because apart from Santi, who I now regret us bringing in on it, Rio and I decided I should ramp up my duties on cybersecurity. To say I’m slammed, even without that worry, is an understatement. It would be helpful to have another head involved, but I’ve yet to hire someone I think can deal with this and keep it confidential.

I recall how pissed off Ava was at not being given a better role. She was all compliments and sparkling amber eyes until that moment. Then, something feisty ignited in her belly, and her confidence was admirable. Sexy even. Her nose scrunched, and she waved her hands around talking, that wild red mane of hers waving along with them. Her soft, full breasts nearly spilled out of her lowcut tank top as she pitched for something more.

I have never let my gaze wander over an employee’s body, but there was a grit about her that made her illuminate. She wasn’t just determined. She was wishful. Yearning.Needingmore even.

That’s what Rio didn’t know about our little phantom. And it’s an image I’d be good to forget, because letting Ava stir these feelings inside me for the first time in years will cloud my judgment. I’m known for my self-control, but there’s a reason sirens were able to sink ships. Men can be weak, and the biggest strength any man can have is to know that.

If she could hack us, she has what it takes to figure out the meaning of the Mexico hacks. She could also hack us again.

I take a sip of the amber liquid, enjoying the burn down my throat. “Circling back to Ava, our new recruit hasn’t left the house. If I’m going to keep an eye on her I need to get her out.”

How is she taking care of herself in there? Clothes can be re-worn and washed. I know Santi had the bathroom stocked like a hotel because I told him she didn’t come with much, but food-wise, I’m sure there wasn’t more than black coffee in the place. And maybe a few green apples that seem to appear anywhere my younger brother has been.

I swirl my caramel-colored tequila. Fuck. Like I don’t have enough to do and now I have to supervise.

Rio pushes himself up to standing and downs the rest of his drink. “I’ll see you at Town Hall in a few days. I’m off to Chicago tonight.” He places the glass in the sink. “We’ll see how this all goes. I want to think this whole Ava thing will be a win for us. There’s no denying she’s going to shake things up.”

As the warm buzz settles in my veins, his words feel heavier than ever. He’s right. She will shake things up. Ava could end up my greatest power, or my greatest vulnerability.

6

I’ve been holedup in this house for one whole day, and it looks like I’m going on two, not daring to go outside. I was able to pass quite a bit of time on the computer Enzo had dropped off, but mostly, I’ve divided my time between eating the last of my stash of protein bars, rotting as a voyeur on social media, and creating and deleting PowerPoint slides over and over again. I also fended off a few prying emails from Debbie, which, nerve-wracking as it was, makes her a quality employee.

The only achievement I made in the many hours since being at GhostEye was being able to clone an employee in cybersecurity. If Enzo won’t give me access, I’llneed to take it myself. When I ask Enzo for help, I need balance between us.

Enzo is going to have to not only want me here. He’ll have toneedme.

For an hour or two my small win was enough to make me forget about how I’m inside this house worried about leaving on my own.

I should go outside. Anton always made me get out and walk. If the weather was bad, we’d go to the gym. I’m used to moving because Anton struggled to stay still.

But here I am, trying to get in my twenty thousand steps in what I guess is about five thousand square feet. When I peek outside the curtains, I wish I could bring myself to do it out there, but now that freedom is at my feet, from within the safest environment a girl like me could land in, I’m surprised how hard it is to make my palm reach for that door handle.

I don’t really remember a time when I walked around alone, unguarded. Never have I had a moment in fourteen years whereItruly chose what to do, where to go, when to do it. I thought being free would be like skydiving, light as a bird, but I forgot to imagine the part where I stand at the edge of the plane, door open with ten thousand feet of open space below me wondering if my parachute would open.

My shoulders are weighed down with indecision. What will I say if I come across someone I don’t know? Rio lives here, though he’s mostly gone. Enzo is a house over, and Santi behind his. I could walk over to the stables, but it’s not like I can strike up a conversation about horses.

When I asked the guard who lived in the other two houses, he told me Gabriel was gone most of the time. Despite how intimidating I found the guard upon arrival, hewas surprisingly friendly in offering information on Luis, the Mendez papa who is as new to Echo Valley as I am.

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