Page 17 of My Fake Billionaire Damaged Boyfriend

I hold my hand over my mouth to keep from screaming.

Every word that comes up isn’t just personal to me, but ithurts.

It lists my parents’ names, my siblings’ names, the address for where I used to live, and where I live now. It has my hometown listed, the places I used too frequently and the personal information that I carry around my everyday life. Maiden names, pet names, schoolteacher names…

My stomach aches with the shock of this find, but more so in the confusion of it.

“What the fuck?”

“I don’t know, Kitten, but look,” he whispers, pointing to a small little box in the corner of the screen. Even when I scroll through the details of my life, the box stays. “It’s got a number and a dollar sign next to it.”

“Fifteen hundred,” I whisper, unsure what that’s supposed to mean. “Wait, why is there a price here? Look! It just went up to sixteen hundred. What is it doing? Is it making us do tha?t”

“Oh no,” he whispers, moving his mouse over the little box to expose an offer box with a greenbidbutton underneath it. I shiver in angst, unsure what to do with that kind of sight. “Fuck,” he growls. “The timer in the top corner, it’s almost out.”

“What does that mean? What does any of this mean, dammit?”

“The system is selling your information,” he bites. “Move out of my way, right now.”

I dive sideways, watching him type an outrageous number into the bidding box. The timer dies, the monitor beeps a few times, and a text box appears over the page of my personal information. Only Dimitri is close enough to read it. I am too much in shock to even think about what it might say. I lean on the window nearby, looking at the sheer drop to the sidewalk below.

My head spins more, and I melt to my knees, weeping ever so silently.

“Hey, it’s okay, I got the profile. It was a bid for your information. I won, though, so it’s okay. You’re safe, Kitten,” he whispers. I watch him perch on the floor before me, only to yank me forward and bury me into his chest while his arms hug my shoulders. “It’s okay, don’t be scared about that. This is good. Now we have something against Alek that we know is illegal.”

“I don’t care about that,” I muster the courage to say. “My information—”

“I got it back, it’s safe.”

“I don’t want to see it,” I admit. “I didn’t want you to see it either.”

“Why not, Kitten?”

Sniffling hard, I pull back from his warmth and let my tears flow freely. “Because I’m a disgrace. I’m an abandoned disgrace in my family and I didn’t want anyone to know that about me. This is my new life, dammit, mybetterlife, and it’s ruined now that you know it all.”

“Hey, you have nothing to be ashamed of. Besides, I didn’t see anything too important, Izzy. It’s okay, I swear.”

Still, I’m too distraught with my past coming back from the grave to haunt me.

“Fuck,” I grunt, crying into my lap while tears soak the wood floors where we both sit. “I hate myself.”

“Shut up, Kitten, and look at me.”

I do as he says, both of tired, wired with coffee, and in desperate need of a damn nap. Even then, there’s still some kick left in us, my body launching forward while his arms come to my hips. I intend to embrace him again in an act of comfort, but we both read it wrong, our lips locking in a gentle, smooth kiss.

He pulls back slightly, wiping my face dry of tears. “You have nothing to hate, Kitten. You’re perfect.”

“Not nearly as perfect as I could be,” I admit.

“No one can be that perfect, though. Give yourself some credit, okay? You just found out that the biggest mogul in tech and security is selling people’s personal information to the highest bidder. That isn’t just amazing, but it’s groundbreaking, okay? You did something great. Let’s focus on that for now.”

I shake my head, butterflies armed with pins attached to their wings taking flight in my stomach. I can’t focus on anything else right now, not even with him telling me to do so. Instead, I focus on the man in front of me, the one clinging to my hips while I’m sat up in his lap, and the growing tension between our bodies that I can’t ignore much longer.

Maybe it’s sleep deprivation, or the sudden spurt of adrenaline, but I attach my lips to his and don’t pull away again. He doesn’t either, working his hands under my blouse where I know he’s going to continue to the land of no return.

And good, that’s fine by me.

This life hasn’t been all that great for me lately, especially not before now. Why would I want to return here, the woman with just a tragic past and an even more turbulent future? I’ve lied to myself about my capabilities and my assets for far too long.

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