Page 70 of Hunt Me
“Then she’s already dead.” He says it with the clinical detachment of someone who’s seen too many bodies. “They’ll move on her within forty-eight hours.”
“Not if we move first.”
“We?” He turns to face me fully. “Alexi, this isn’t some cybersecurity issue we can patch. You’re talking about going after a government black ops program that’s already killed her parents and won’t hesitate to kill her—and anyone helping her.”
“I know what I’m asking.”
“Do you?” Nikolai steps closer, and I see the calculation in his eyes—weighing risks. “Because once we commit to this, there’s no backing out. The family becomes involved. Dmitri, Erik, and their women. Everyone.”
My chest tightens. I’ve spent years being the wild card, the brother who solves digital problems while staying safely behind screens. Now I’m asking my family to take on enemies who specialize in making people disappear.
“I love her.”
The words surprise me as much as they surprise Nikolai. His eyebrows lift fractionally.
“You’ve slept with her for three days.”
“And I’ve been obsessed with her every second since she first breached our systems.” I hold his gaze. “She’s mine, Nik. Mine to protect, mine to keep. I’m not letting them take her.”
Nikolai studies me for a long moment. Then he crosses to my desk and picks up my phone.
“What are you doing?”
“Calling Dmitri and Erik. If we’re doing this, everyone needs to know what they’re signing up for.” He pauses with his thumb over the screen. “And Alexi? She stays here from now on. Your penthouse is the most secure location we have outside the estate.”
“She won’t like that.”
“She doesn’t get a choice. Not anymore.”
Nikolai makes the calls while I return to monitoring Iris’s security systems. She rebuilt them well—better than my initial patches—but nothing’s impenetrable. Especially not to an organization with government resources.
Dmitri arrives first, looking annoyed at being summoned at four in the morning. Erik follows ten minutes later, his military training evident in how he automatically positions himself near the door, threat assessment mode engaged.
“This better be fucking important,” Dmitri mutters, pouring himself vodka from my bar.
“Alexi’s in love with the hacker who’s been screwing us,” Nikolai says flatly.
Erik’s gaze sharpens on me. Dmitri nearly chokes on his drink.
“The Phantom?” Dmitri sets down his glass. “You’re joking.”
“Her name is Iris.” I pull up her photo on the main monitor. “And she’s been targeting us because she thought we killed her parents.”
“Did we?” Erik’s voice is quiet, dangerous.
“No. But a CIA front company did, and they’ve been watching her ever since.” I walk them through everything—Morrison, Sentinel Operations, Project Nightshade.
Dmitri leans against my desk, processing. “So, you want us to go to war with a government black ops program because you’re fucking their target?”
“Because she’s mine,” I snap. “And they’re going to kill her if we don’t act first.”
“When did you become this reckless?” Dmitri looks genuinely baffled. “You’ve always been the smart one, Alexi. The one who thinks before he acts.”
“I am thinking. I’m thinking that if we let them take her, I’ll spend the rest of my life hunting everyone involved.” My hands curl into fists. “And that won’t be clean or strategic. It’ll be bloody.”
Erik moves from his position by the door. “Show me the agent.”
I pull up Morrison’s file. Erik studies it with the focused intensity of someone who’s memorized countless enemy profiles.
