Page 41 of Deal with the Devil

My knees feel as though they’re held together byJell-O as I walk across the room toward my laptop. I lift the lid, tap my password into the keys, and swallow bile as my email appears, empty. Not only is there no video to show them, but there’s not even an email anymore.

“What?” I feel a new surge of panic, because I did not imagine that video. I didn’t. “It was here.” I shake my head, feeling a new swell of panic. “I swear, it was here.”

“Sunshine.” Kane winces as I step away from him.

“I didn’t imagine it.” I’m still shaking my head as Ian sits in front of my laptop, his hands flying over the keys.

“No one thinks you imagined anything, baby,” Kane coos. But he’s wrong.I think I imagined it.

I must have imagined it. If it had been real, it would still be in my inbox.

Oh, my God, I’m going crazy.

I need a psych evaluation. I need…

“Here.” Ian taps the screen. “Breech.” He twists to face me, eyes boring into mine. “You’re not crazy, Nevaeh, but whoever is fucking with you has rare intelligence. He’s a hacker. Good at it, too. I can’t see the email. That’s gone. But he left enough crumbs for me to know he was here.” His voice is a kind of calm that leaves me feeling shook to my core. “Don’t figure he thought he’d need to sweep his wholemess, but he doesn’t know you have access to me, or who I am. Who my parents were.”

A pounding begins in my head, and I press my fingertips to my temples. “Who are you?”

When Ian’s eyes move to Kane’s, Kane gives a subtle nod. “You can trust her.”

Ian takes him at his word, clearly not knowing that I’m only the fake fiancée. Regardless, I’d never betray them. Any of them. “Outside of Devils Heartbreak, I’m the head of Vein Security.”

My nose scrunches. “Like alarms?”

Ian smiles. It’s not cocky or smart. Just soft. “Among other things.”

I shake my head again, sensing I won’t understand even if he attempted to explain. “So, you can’t recover the email?”

“No.” Again, it’s matter of fact. “Whoever sent this is clearly experienced and your device has fuck all for protection.”

I close my eyes, but it’s Kane who says, “You’ll see to that, now.”

Ian nods, taking no offense to the bark in Kane’s tone. Clearly, like me, he’s stressed.

Ian adds, “You already have my system on your house, Kane, but after what happened with Wren, I think it’d be smart to get a dog. A big dog.” His eyes flick to me. “Do you like dogs?”

My voice is hardly audible. “Love them.”

“A dog is a good idea,” Tav agrees quietly. “A Cane Corso, specifically. I know a good breeder.”

I look to him with a frown. “What’s that?”

Tav offers me a small smirk. “It’s big. It can also be aggressive. Very aggressive.”

I jolt. “I don’t want an aggressive dog.”

Tav holds my gaze firmly. “You do.”

“No. I want—” The shrill sound of my phone has a yelp slipping from between my lips, but I answer when I see Mama’s name on my screen. “Mama, hi.”

“What is it? What’s wrong?”

I never could hide much from her. “I’m sick. Really sick, and my head is pounding. I’m sorry, Mama, we won’t make it tonight.”

“Oh, my girl, the flu?”

“I don’t know. Maybe.” I move to the couch and drop onto it. It feels as though every ounce of energy I had has been squeezed out of me.

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