Page 43 of My Fake Billionaire Damaged Boyfriend

“Well, for starters, we’re going to confiscate your phones, and your equipment pertaining to the software developed by Ivica Tech.”

Izzy gasps, folding her arms in front of her while pressing her face into the hole she’s made. I hate to see her so upset, my stomach in knots as she begins to weep in solace. Uncaring of this agent’s request, I get up from my seat and bump his shoulder as I move around him, coming to her side where I kneel. I brush her back with my hand, stroking her spine smoothly.

Agent Mccoy hardly seems concerned with her quiet outburst of emotion. “Listen, we are running short on time, and we have to make this quick.”

“Then arrest us already,” I bite, aggravated. “We have done nothing wrong.”

“I know that. We all know that. We’re not here to arrest you technically, but we need your help.”

Both Izzy and I perk up with his claim.

“Wait, what?” she huffs in a weepy exhale. “What are you saying?”

“I’m saying that this is a cover-up to our real concern. We aren’t really here to arrest you. We need to make it seem like you’re both under arrest so that when we take you to our base, you both can give us all the evidence we need to charge Alek Ivica.”

I stand slowly, my hands on Izzy’s shoulders as I do so. She wipes her face dry while I purposefully pull the agent aside, needing to let her calm down before we talk about this more. But I can’t let this get to her too much. She’s already so standoffish from confrontation, and me.

She needs a break.

In the back hallway behind my kitchen, I eye this agent Mccoy with a look of bewilderment. “What’s going on, really?”

“We got a tip from Alek that you’ve been hacking his software. It was cybercrime, so the FBI came to me. He didn’t know that there’s already a case against him right now concerning his software. I talked to him briefly, got the gist of the issue, and I think we can help each other.”

“Help how? What do you want with Izzy?”

“We know her history this far,” he claims. “She took down his assessment test. There’s also proof that she’s managed to hack through the backdoor of Alek’s system. We know he’s doing illegal sales of personal information to the dark web, but without the proof…”

“You need her to prove it for you,” I sigh.

He nods in agreement. “That’s right. But, to keep up appearances, we have to federally arrest you both.”

I wipe a hand down my face, the thought of them putting handcuffs on her a little daunting to me. She’s already frazzled, and this isn’t going to help any, but it’s safer if Alek is starting to turn on her. But why? He just told her he wants to buy her flash drive and to have her modify it. So, what’s the issue now? Why has he suddenly turned on her in less than a day?

“Tell me something,” I say. “I have to know. Why did he call? What happened that made this transpire?”

He swallows slightly before pulling out his phone. After a quick moment of clicking around, he holds up the screen for me to see. It’s a crystal-clear, bird’s-eye view of us in her office, right before I took her into my arms and kissed her on the desk.

“Dammit,” I gripe. “He tried to get us to separate yesterday, to drive a wedge between us and he saw on the security cameras that it didn’t work. Figures. Well, what’s our next steps?”

He tucks his phone into his pocket. “We need to gather whatever materials you have so we can analyze it at the office. We’re going to need you and Ms. Bellerose to cooperate and in exchange, we will offer you immunity from tampering with illegal materials.”

I cringe at his words slightly, but I understand. “Alright, I get it. Let me take you to the office.”

We walk out into the main room, seeing everyone scatter through my home as if looking for a pound of illegal drugs or something. Meanwhile, I’m sore at the sight of Izzy’s seat being empty. I hurry to the office, seeing her in front of the screen with a handful of agents behind her, watching closely.

“This is the data we bought off the site before,” she says, her voice calm yet bold. “I’ve traced the coding shortcut through this file instead of the software itself, because of how complicated it is now that Alek has changed the structure.”

“So, this was able to read the code before?” an agent asks.

“It sought out the backdoor in no time,” she replies. “But he’s stocked it so full of false trap doors that there’s no way it would be able to run through these options without trouble. But, when we use the file of my information that we bought off of the search engine before, I’m able to navigate it just fine with my coding trick here.”

“Okay, we need to seize this material,” Agent Mccoy says at last, everyone jumping and spinning to face us in the doorway. “We will continue this operation under our jurisdiction, and we need to hurry up. The press will be here soon for their shot.”

Izzy’s gaze softens. “Their shot?”

“Yeah, I’ll explain it to you soon enough,” he tells her.

I wave Mccoy aside and pull Izzy out of her chair. Leading her to the back bedroom, I pull her body into a loose embrace. She relaxes against my chest, her hair in need of a brush and a shower, but I have a feeling we don’t have time for such niceties.

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