Page 51 of Unspoken Promises

She says her words like a clue. “Sheltered is putting it lightly.”

She slides her hands down my arms and takes my fingertips in hers. “Thanks again, Enzo.” She backs away toward her door. “I just hope I get a chance to saveyouone day.”

As she disappears through the door, I have no idea where the strong feeling comes from, but it’s unmistakable.

I never thought of myself as needing saving, but if anyone would do it, it’s her.

17

I’ve stayedinside all morning, only getting out of bed to grab caffeine and toast.

It took a long time to get out of bed because I was up most of the night, either too afraid to fall asleep because I was stupid enough to look up secondary drowning, or couldn’t drift off because I was still dreaming of the way Enzo’s neck smelled, the feeling of his chest on mine, and the thought of pressing my lips to his tanned skin.

My hug was meant to thank him, nothing more; somewhere in that precious space created by my hands around his neck, was the perfect chance for a kiss. How can I even describe how it felt to be that close? Combinethrobbing lust with warm affection and professional adoration— it’s somewhere in that bubbling cauldron of emotions.

I’m doomed. I’m falling for my boss, and he keeps making it worse without even trying. Just being his grumpy, aloof, intelligent, powerful, excruciatingly attractive self.

I even think I trust him now. And giving me access to the system shows he’s trusting me, too. Something tells me if we ever truly confide in each other, the dominoes will completely fall for me. And last night? The way he touched me, was there the moment I needed him? Maybe he feels the same.

The more I feel this way, the scarier it all is. I’ve been burning the midnight oil looking for ways to connect the hacks to someone, or something. In my life, there haven’t been many things I can believe in, but my ability to crack a mystery is one of them. And that means, the longer I’m in the weeds at GhostEye, the closer I’ll get to proving my worth. The closer I am to that happening, the closer I am to telling Enzo my truth. Asking for his help.

Now that I’m starting to care about him, the more hesitant I am to have him be the one to help. It’s not that I have many other options, but once he knows the truth, I could be putting him in danger. There’s still no way of knowing that Father won’t come to find me. If I’m with Enzo, he could go down with shrapnel. When I first came here, the thought of innocent people being dragged into my situation made me uncomfortable. Now it makes my guts twist.

I can’t let myself want him more than I do or I might lose my nerve and never tell him about Father. Could I even do that? How long would Enzo pay me cash? Give me space… probably not much longer.

I sit up in bed with my laptop on my knees and don’t take my eyes off the screen. Grabbing a piece of toast frommy bedside table, I crunch down. I dust the crumbs off the side of the bed and think about how, when Anton found me doing such things, he’d tsk at me like I was a slob. Itisslovenly. But the one thing that has taken my mind off last night is work. So be it.

Focusing on an area of the system I haven’t examined before, I concentrate on a patch of activity from six months ago, having deciding to work back from the time when GhostEye went public to now.

That’s weird.

I scroll up. Scroll down again through the data… and back up again.Shit.Another breach?

Clicking my fingers like a maniac, I examine the data for the next half hour and come across suspicious activity. Shit. Is there another rat in the henhouse? Is this really another hack? Three undetected hacks?

I run basic commands to track the IP address. And then, the second strange thing happens. The IP address is easy to trace. Just like the first breach I found, whoever is trying to crack into the system isn’t masking themselves very well. The most basic tool available to nearly any Tom, Dick, or Harry shows me the IP address. It’s Mexico again. And like the first two hacks, this one was done months and months ago.

How did these hacks slip through Enzo’s team? Are they really that incompetent? Maybe it reallyisan inside job. By a security engineer? But why wouldn’t they have asked for something by now? Hackers usually want ransom, and this is the third hack from the same region of Mexico and no demands have been made?

I need more caffeine. I need more time to dig. This could be bad. Really bad. What if the hacks are connected? What if this person, or people, are collecting for a hugepayday down the road? Or worse, want to tear down the system… If they’ve been undetected for this long… there might be more.

I have to tell Enzo.

But it’s Saturday. Only someone obsessed like me or someone on overtime would be working today. My clock reads ten-thirty. Luis said he’d give me a ride at eleven because his first book club is meeting today. I don’t know why we have to leave so early when it’s just in town at Pages and Perks and it isn’t until twelve-thirty. But I can’t cancel on him. He was so damn excited about it and he’s the kind of guy who wouldn’t let me down.

I close my laptop. The hacks happened months ago. It is urgent that Enzo know, but equally, whoever did this isn’t exactly moving at light speed. It can wait until after Luis’ club if need be but I better let Enzo know I need to talk to him today.

I put my laptop to the side on the bed, brush more toast crumbs off my lap and sheets.

I dig around in the clouds of blankets and covers and find my cell.

ME

I need to talk to you ASAP.

I send the text to Enzo and wait for one in return, or even some ellipses. Nothing. I guess not everyone works on a Saturday morning. Enzo did say he likes to ride on the weekend. Maybe he’s at the stables?

I tap the pads of my fingers on my laptop. Should I text him again? I don’t want to go to the club without planning a time to meet Enzo. What if he’s on his way out of town or something?

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