Page 29 of Vicious Vows

“Alright, Chris said to go ahead with the updates here. They have the new cameras online and ready for your patch.” Dale hovers behind me like a cat ready to pounce. He’s been watching my every move since he learned that I hacked the home security and set the cameras to loop. He fixed that and told Luke, who was angry with me for a day, but he didn’t lock me up again.

He did, however, tell me that if I did something like that again, he wouldn’t be so nice as he was last time. I’m not scared of him because I can see it in his eyes—he cares about me. He’s not going to hurt me or use me as some stupid example of his authority. If he does punish me, the worst I can expect to endure is a week of being locked in a room by myself again. I don’t mind that.

My fingers gracefully dance over the keyboard, filling my need to feel that rhythmic tap that’s so soothing. The adrenaline rush of hacking isn’t present, but I’m being productive. It’s strange how quickly my mind shifted from disdaining Luke’s tasks for me to enjoying them. When I first came here, I hated that I couldn’t use my knowledge of computer science and coding to do something honorable or productive. I hated him for forcing me to do unethical things.

Now, however, the very things I thought I would do with my degree are seeming very boring. Installing software, creating security patches, writing new code for the system—there’s no thrill in it, and it barely holds my attention. I crave the exhilaration of the chase, the feeling of taking a risk and knowing if I make a misstep, I’ll face uncertain consequences.

“Go log in and help me with this patch,” I tell Dale, who has to obey me unless I directly disobey Luke’s commands. I like it that way. Even though this is the easiest job I’ve ever been given since coming here and I don’t need help to do any of it, he traipses over to his computer and sits down to work.

While he’s distracted with my pointless chore, I pull up a new browser and connect to the VPN first, then onionize the connection, routing it through Eastern Europe, the Maldives, the Middle East, and finally, Japan before diving deep. My fingers work the keys like the professional hacker I am now, searching the dark web for the fingerprints I’m so used to seeing.

Will leaves a signature everywhere he goes. It’s unique to him, a twelve-digit alphanumeric code he created as a signature for his work. I told him how stupid it is to leave it, but he swears he’ll be famous someday and everywhere his “fingerprints” are left will display his work. Now I can use it as a means to find him. I just have to know where to look.

My deep dive takes me places on the dark web that terrify me, into topics and sites I never want to venture close to, but it’s Will’s specialty. He likes to mess with people and screw up their plans. He once disrupted a sex trafficking ring set to transport women across the border and alerted border patrol agents ahead of time—all anonymously so he would never be tracked. His work is genius, and I’m honored to be his friend, but despite all my attempts to locate him or his signature, the trail is cold.

From what I can tell, he’s not been online doing his thing in weeks. I’ve been here for going on three months, and he’s never gone this long without talking to me. My daily calls to Dad and Nathan have proved fruitless as well. They haven’t seen him, nor have they had the time to go looking. I don’t expect them to care as much. He’s not their friend or family member, and they’re toobusy helping Dad recover and keep the shop going. They don’t have time to worry about a complete stranger.

But I have time, and I’m really worried. If Luke can snatch me off the street in this game of cat and mouse with his enemies, imagine what could happen to a guy like Will who is less than tactful about covering his tracks?

Dale has this software reboot locked down, and I want answers. So this time, instead of trying to sneak out without Luke knowing, I decide to just tell him I’m going. He can send some guards with me if he likes, but I need to go to Will’s parents’ house and check on him. Not talking to me is one thing, but not getting online to do what he always does is another. His socials have been dead for weeks. His homework hasn’t been turned in—yes, I hacked that too—and if his digital signature has gone dark, then something is really wrong. I hope it’s just a bad case of the flu, but I can’t be certain unless I see him.

I stand and push my chair back, saying, “You’ve got this. I have to step out…” Then I head out the door and up the hallway to where Luke has himself shut into his den. I saw a few burly men with angry faces being led past the open office door earlier. I assume they’re more of Luke’s cohorts in crime, though they look more like muscle than brains. They’re in his den with him talking. I can hear the rumble of their deep voices as I approach.

I knock softly and wait, but Luke doesn’t call to me. I’m antsy, wanting to get out and check on Will and get back quickly, and it makes me impatient. I push open the door, and Luke’s scowl catches my gaze.

“Did I tell you to enter?” he asks, and I see large plastic-wrapped packages full of something white, with brown packaging tape wrapped around them. They’re all stacked on the table betweenhis dark leather couches, and one of the men has an open briefcase full of stacks of money.

“I have to go check on Will. I was just coming to tell you,” I mumble, tearing my eyes off the obvious drug deal going down, but Luke only glares at me as I back out and shut the door. He’s too busy doing illegal things to even give a single fuck what I’m doing, and I don’t have patience to wait for him to care.

I march right up the hallway, past the guards and onto the front porch. It’s the far end of where my ankle monitor allows me to walk without the alarm sounding. Once I make this decision, there’s no going back. Luke will be alerted immediately, and he’ll be angry, but I can’t care about that right now. Will is too important to me. I can’t be afraid of what Luke might do.

Flagging down Luke’s driver, who sits in the limo waiting, I call out to him, “I need you to take me somewhere.” Then I dash off the steps and climb into the car, listening to the alarms going off inside the house. The driver looks over his shoulder at me through the lowered window and scowls. “I need to check on my father. Please go now.”

The driver shrugs a shoulder and turns, firing up the car and taking off. “Which way?” he asks as the car gets to the end of the long, narrow lane. I look back at the house and see Tony standing with a walkie-talkie in hand, watching after me.

“Turn right,” I tell him, and then I pull my phone out and begin hacking. It’s a pain in the ass on a tiny screen, but I manage to scramble the signal to the car’s GPS and the driver’s phone before someone from the house can get ahold of him. Unfortunately, it also disables my phone too. But I don’t need to place another pointless call. I need to knock on his door and see if he’s okay. It’s the only thing that will put my mind at ease now.

22

LUKE

When Micah stuck her head into my den to speak with me, I didn’t think anything of it. She still had manners to learn, apparently. I continued my meeting with my two colleagues as planned, but moments later, my alarm went off, and now I’m enraged. My phone blares out the warning that she’s left the property, and I pull up the app to track her movements, standing slowly so as not to alarm my guests.

“If you will both excuse me, my right-hand man Mark will come in and assist you in completing this deal.” I button my coat and start toward the door, and before I’m even within arm’s reach, it opens. Mark appears, and I nod at him. “Finish up. I have to deal with this.”

Mark passes by me into my den as I head into the hallway and toward the front door. Vic is there, standing by the door ready to go, and I stare down at my phone in hand, watching Micah’s location moving quickly away from the house. She’s in a car for sure, probably my own. I attempt to call her phone, but it goes straight to voicemail, so I call my driver whose phone alsogoes to voicemail. She’s probably jamming the signal. It’s a good thing this tracking anklet doesn’t rely on cellular technology, only satellite triangulation.

“She just walked out, sir,” Vic says as I pass him and walk right out the front door. Tony already has my second car pulled around and waiting. Vic moves swiftly with me, both of us climbing into the car.

“At least she didn’t take the ankle monitor off.” I’m grumbling, but I am thankful for that. Micah will earn a punishment for this little stunt, but I’m more worried about her safety than anything else. She has no idea how dangerous my enemies are and the lengths to which I've gone to protect her so far. Yes, I put her in this danger, but she’s not exactly being cooperative, so how am I supposed to keep her safe?

“She’s moving fast on Becker Street, Sir.” Tony watches the GPS readout on the car’s navigation system, cast there by the app on my phone. “Headed north.”

She’s going toward her father’s house which is a place my enemies will know to look for her. I can’t believe how stupid she is being right now. And I don’t think it would even matter if I had warned her about the danger, either. She’s so damn stubborn, she’d have gone anyway.

“Go faster. If something happens to her, we lose our cash cow.” My men know me. I don’t make a fuss emotionally over anyone, but losing Micah would hurt—my business and me. I’ve grown too attached to her, let my guard down a little too much. My bed would feel empty without her.

The tires squeal on the pavement as Tony accelerates into a turn and jets up the street, zipping past parked cars and weavingaround slower traffic. My mind races as fast as the car, angry with her for leaving, wondering why she couldn’t just wait a few more minutes until my meeting was over. This friend of hers has to mean something special for her to defy me yet again. How can I be angry with someone so loyal? Except that loyalty isn’t to me and my rules.

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