Hard Love (Hacker 5)
Page 49“Sounds like he has a steady track record of meddling with your software ventures. You really think this kid rigged a state election?”
“When he got bored of messing around with my sites and Erica’s, he partnered up with Max and one of Erica’s former colleagues to create a competing site. Shoddy work, of course. I took it down pretty easily and then he disappeared again. Off the map. Until now. He’s upped his game, it would seem, and he’s making it damn hard for me to look too hard for him because now the feds have their eyes on me.”
“So you’ve been dealing with him for years, for nearly as long as I’ve known you, and you never told me?”
When I’d laid it all out, I couldn’t believe how long I’d really let this go on. Heath was right. Erica too. Trevor needed to be stopped, one way or the other.
“I guess it wasn’t worth the fight until now.”
“Damnit.” He lifted his cap and scrubbed his forehead. “All right. So how do we find him and get Evans off your scent?”
“First I need to prove he did it. Second, I need to find him. He’s anonymous, in every sense of the word.”
“What does that mean? Everyone has a trail.”
“For all intents and purposes, he’s untraceable. Erica found him once, and then he disappeared again.”
His eyebrows lifted. “Erica found him?”
He did a poor job of masking a smirk. “Sure. Anyway, how did she do it?”
“She found out his mother was living in the area. She confronted him—without my permission, I might add—and things got heated. She left, and next thing we know Trevor and his mother up and move with no forwarding address.”
“If we know her identity, that’s something. A start anyway.”
“True. I just need to do some digging.”
Dean’s eyes went wide. “No. No digging, Blake.”
“I have people who might be willing to help. It won’t trace back to me.”
“It better fucking not.” He shook his head. “Christ, you’re going to give me an ulcer.”
“If you don’t already have one, you’re not working hard enough.”
He let out a short laugh, his anxiety fading a bit. “Thrilled to hear my quality of life means that much to you, after a decade of being at your beck and call.” He grabbed his phone and typed in a few notes. “All right. Do your digging, very very carefully. I’ll do mine as well. Let me know what you find, and we can decide how to approach Evans with it. I don’t think that throwing out the name of a virtually unknown assailant is going to do anything more than grind his gears.”
My phone dinged with a text.
E: When can I expect you?
B: Finishing up now. Be home in about an hour.
E: Wait for me in the living room.
I hesitated, spinning over what she could possibly be cooking up for tonight. I hadn’t taken this morning’s teasing banter too seriously. Erica had a reputation for wanting to take charge until I had her begging to be dominated again.
But maybe there was more than play behind her proposition. Maybe she shared my concerns. Maybe she was right to. I was uneasy and aroused all at once.
B: Should I be worried?
I hovered over the send button a minute, not sure if I wanted her to answer that. Finally I sent it. By the time Dean had finished his beer, her reply had come in.
E: Terrified.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
ERICA
Blake’s voice echoed through the large foyer. “I’m home!”
My heart beat a dizzying pace. I stretched the second black stocking up my thigh and stepped into my favorite black heels. I fluffed my hair, spread a deep shade of red over my lips, and made a popping sound. Hands on my slanted hips, I assessed my look in the mirror.
Alli had helped me pick out the perfect corset—after she’d chosen another for herself, which should have shocked me until I realized that Heath was likely just as capable as Blake was in the kink department.
The corset’s shiny black leather molded perfectly to my torso, pushing the upper swells of my breasts out of the already low-cut garment that barely covered my nipples. A few popped buttons would bare all, and I was already fantasizing about the ways Blake could do that. I paired the garment with a pair of tiny black panties and sheer black thigh-highs.
As usual, I had no idea what I was doing, but chances were good that I looked the part. Blake would either laugh me out of the room or try to devour me. I picked up the tiny crop that I’d chosen earlier for that very scenario. I felt much better going into this dominant situation with a weapon to reinforce my position.