Page 26 of The Texan's Secrets

“Foster care. Seven homes, thirteen years until I aged out.”

His heart went heavy, his chest tight. “I’m so sorry to hear that.”

“What matters is I made it through.”

“Childhood should be much more than making it through.” Though he’d lost his parents, he and Misha had their grandmother. She was stern, from an older school of thought. But she was loving and fair.

“We don’t get to pick,” Emilia said wistfully.

“We don’t,” he agreed.

“Some homes were good, some sucked. I got used to the feeling of being physically unmoored. But wherever I went, house to house, school to school, there was always the internet and social media. I joined Coders Plus as a teenager.”

“I know Coders Plus.”

They were a great, free online teaching service.

Through his company AlgoXcell, they’d asked him to volunteer as an instructor, to make a series of video workshops for their students. He’d reluctantly told them no, knowing the videos would draw unwanted attention. But he’d often wondered if he should have stepped up.

“My online friends followed me wherever I went,” she said.

He took a first taste of his wine. “This is good.”

“I like it,” she said.

“It sounds like you made the best of your situation.” Nick couldn’t help but be impressed by that.

“I like to think I did. And here I am now.”

“Successful.”

“Successful enough. I like my job, my friends—live and in person now.” She grinned at her own joke.

He smiled too. “I was raised by my grandmother.”

Her expression turned apprehensive. “Where were your parents?”

“There was a—” He almost said car accident but checked himself in time. Emilia knew Misha and might have heard the real story about their parents. He didn’t want her putting two and two together. “They both died in an accident.”

“That’s rough.”

“For sure. But I had Grandma. That’s more than you had.”

Her expression turned contemplative, and she sipped her wine. “Do you ever wonder about an app that could do that?”

“How do you mean?”.

“Go deep into the internet, identify us and scrape up whatever breadcrumbs might be out there about our lives?”

“That seems pretty invasive. Nico imagined people would rather present their best selves on a dating app.

“You an orphan, me abandoned. The possibilities boggle the mind.”

“Surprise Me! is a fun feature, not military quality AI spyware.”

“How can we know for sure?”

He could almost see the wheels turning inside her head. He supposed he shouldn’t be completely surprised that she’d go there. After all, she must have seen some sophisticated and nefarious things during her hacking career.

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