Page 6 of Unspoken Promises

“Here, as in on the ranch?”

“Yeah. Why not? Shay and Logan aren’t moving to the Valley anytime soon. We have an empty house. Tell you what? Since it’s my fuck up, I’ll ask the stable hands to move my guest room furniture into the empty so she at least has a bedroom to start.” He laughs lightly. “If she’s at the ranch you can keep an eye on her. I know you don’t trust anyone as smart as you.”

I scoff. “She’s a college kid.”

“Your eyes nearly fell out of your face when you found out she hacked the system, Zo. I know you’re a closed book, but that response was the goddamn title.”

“Mmm.” Instantly, his idea is a decent one. A person like Miss Scott needs to be handled with care. And it solves at least one of the problems for now. “Fine. Get the bedroom furniture moved.”

“Listen,” he pauses, probably looking at his watch, “you better get cracking. She’ll be here in two hours.”

“Two hours?”

He’s got to be fucking kidding me. This is so Santi—chaos personified.

Before I can say anything else, he gives me a quick “Gotta run,” followed by the triple beep of a dropped call.

I throw my phone down on the counter. Unlike Santi, going with the flow isn’t my forte. I can deal with the unknown but needsometime to think it through.

I can’t make someone else manage her, not right away at least. A talented hacker needs to be under my supervision or Rio’s. We’re the only ones who work enough at GhostEye and understand the wreckage a woman with her abilities could cause. I need to make time to keep her under review. She might need a car… I need to pay her ten grand bonus and get her on payroll… Do background checks, and not just a rap sheet,mykind of background check.

I should have had months to execute this. Not hours.

I grip the edges of the cool travertine counter to stop myself spiraling and finding problems when I need solutions. It’s done. She’s coming. Santi agreed it, and the Mendez family honors its commitments.

As much as I loathe that this young woman has been able to crack our security, she’s proven just how valuable she could be as an employee at GhostEye. We need world-class white hat hackers here because every large criminal organization is hell-bent on stopping us. We need to protect what we have because it’s protecting more than just our financial wellbeing, we’re protecting innocent lives. We can change the world by making online crime a thing of the past. We can make it hard, if not impossible, for criminals to hide. It’s not just my life’s work.

It’s my life’s purpose.

But I’m not ready to hand access over to some kid. Even if she is talented.

I flip my phone back over and swipe my finger around until I get my schedule up again. Rio can handle this morning’s meetings without me dialing in. I text my assistant to draw up the nondisclosures and other documents I’ll needMiss Scott to sign, then place my phone down again and slip out of my shorts and boxers and turn the shower back on to fifty degrees. I’m going to need a cold one.

I slide in under the spray and brace myself against the wall behind the waterfall, muscles tightening instantly with the freezing cold water wetting my body. At first, the cold is all I can think about, but then, like it always does, it brings clarity.

Putting Miss Scott on a project beneath her would risk her becoming quickly bored, disgruntled, and likely leaving for something shinier. Her quitting would obliterate the whole reason we put that contest out in the first place. It was a recruitment mechanism but deep down, I also held on to a twisted idea we might be able to eventually trust the winner with our biggest challenge yet.

I can’t give her some low-level cybersecurity position. But can I really trust her with theEnsenadahacks?

I can’t.

Nobody can know.

And yet everyone will if we don’t stop them.

3

When I arriveat the gate of Monarch Hills, I’m met by two armed guards, geared up like they’re patrolling the gates of the White House rather than the personal estate of a bunch of businessmen. They wear Army fatigues, and both exceed six feet. They fill in their uniforms with broad shoulders, and one has his sleeves rolled up, forearms popping with veins. The blond one wears aviators, and the other has irises as dark as the hair on his head. These men are intimidating, and I doubt anyone even wants to deliver a pizza here let alone arrive as a girl carrying trouble on her shoulders.

My cheeks burn beyond the pink alreadyin them from my hot walk here thinking about having to get through these guys.

My gaze wanders the length and depth of a brick wall with cameras dotted along it; the gates behind the guards must be twelve feet high. It’s probably still not enough security. The value of the brains behind these walls is priceless. I can only imagine how much pleasure it would give criminals to eliminate the heads of GhostEye. Especially Enzo. He’s a tech superhero. I’ve been following him for a long time now through tech blogs and I don’t think there’s a man on the planet I admire more.

Enzo and Rio Mendez brought true good into this world, and I might be leading danger right to their doorstep. The Mendez brothers and their company fight the worst online crime rings. I don’t know what Father does, but he wouldn’t want heroes like them in the world.

I breathe deeply and remind myself I made a clean break. Father had no idea I entered the contest. Anton neither.

I draw nearer, the sight of AK-47s, tall and ominous, lean against the gate house behind, making my mouth instantly dry. My heart races. My lungs start to heave in air as if it’s thin. I have to keep it together… I have to.These men aren’t here to hurt me…

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