Page 88 of Delicate Escape

Anson’s eyes flared comically. He was typically a master of masking his reactions to things, but this was clearly the last thing he’d expected me to say. “You know I basically cut ties with everyone.”

He had. Because Anson hadn’t been able to live with the fallout from an especially horrible case. One that had found him even after he left. Silas. And here I was, the asshole bringing it all up again.

“Do you think you couldgetin touch with one of them? Someone who knows their way around the dark web?” I asked. I wouldn’t have asked if it was for me. I was asking for Thea. Because what she’d told me yesterday had stuck with me and played round and round in my head, only compounded by the shit Russ had pulled.

Anson studied me for a long moment. “I’ve got one. A guy who used to be a black hat. Now, he’s more of a crusader.”

“A black hat? What? Like some kind of wizard?”

Anson shook his head, his lips twitching. “Black hat means someone who hacks with malicious or criminal intent. A white hat hacks to help you find weaknesses in a system.”

“So, this guy? He’s a white hat now?”

Anson made a humming noise. “More of a gray hat, if that’s a thing. He still hacks with malicious intent, but that malice is just directed at those who do wrong.”

“That’s exactly what I need.” A trickle of hope bled into me. I might not be able to put Russ in a jail cell or wipe Brendan Boseman from the Earth, but maybe I could fix a little of the wrong that had been done to Thea.

“What the hell’s going on, Shep?”

I shoved my wallet back into my pocket. “Confidentiality.”

“I know,” Anson growled, offended by my constant reminders.

“Boseman put cameras in Thea’s house without her knowledge. When they broke up, he uploaded compromising photos and videos of her on every porn site he could find. She’s never been able to get them off.”

My voice didn’t sound like mine as I spoke. It was completely detached. So opposite from the fury pulsing inside me.

“You’re fucking kidding me,” Anson snarled.

“I wish I were.” I scrubbed a hand through my hair, tugging on the strands. “He’s messed with her in every way imaginable. Got her fired from a job she loved. Fucked with her credit. Tore apart her life. And no one could catch him. She’s scared that if he finds her, it’ll happen all over again.”

Anson’s jaw worked back and forth. “I’ll call Dex now. If I tellhim what happened, he’ll be all over this. Might just bury Boseman for fun, too.”

I wouldn’t be opposed to that. Just disappointed that I wouldn’t be the one to do it.

Anson looked at me for a long moment before speaking again. “What you told me was already bad, Shep. But this? This is a whole other level of fixation. Obsession.”

“I know.”

The words cut as they rose in my throat, leaving jagged tears behind. Because we both knew what could happen when obsession turned. There would be blood in its wake.

34

THEA

My gaze movedfrom the pan on the stove where popcorn snapped and popped to the window above the sink. The moon was full, casting my garden in a beautiful glow. It was normally one of my favorite sights. Magical. But tonight, the soothing quality didn’t hit.

I shook the pot on the stove as the final few kernels popped and then removed it from the heat. The scents of butter and salt teased my nose, but it did nothing to ease the low-grade annoyance humming through me. But the moment the annoyance swelled, guilt quickly followed.

Ever since the night at the bar, Shep had treated me as if I were fragile, made of the most delicate glass. At first, it had made me feel cared for. But three days later? The frustration was building. There had been no more kisses that set my blood on fire or words of promise whispered against my skin.

Shep was affectionate, sure, but all his actions were distinctlychaste. A kiss to the temple or hair. Fingers locking with mine. A hand dancing along my spine. But nothing more.

I sighed as I poured the popcorn into a bowl and put the pan in the sink to soak. Maybe that night had changed things for us. Just one more thing my past had stolen from me.

“You have a DVD player,” Shep said, staring at the device as I moved from the kitchen to the living room.

His words were a statement, not a question, but I still looked up at him as I set the bowl of popcorn on the coffee table. The kittens played happily in their little pen, and Moose was on his cat tower, looking out into the night.

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