Chapter 19
Chapter Nineteen
Sylvie paced across the guestroom. She couldn’t keep still.
She’d already changed into flannel pajamas. Maureen had provided them, along with some toiletries for her to use. The housekeeper hadn’t specified where these items came from, but Sylvie could guess she wasn’t the first female guest to stay overnight unexpectedly.
Tanner was in a room somewhere else in the house.
He seemed to have had a perfectly nice evening, as if he wasn’t bothered at all by their true mission.
She didn’t know how Tanner could be so easygoing.
Just smiling and accepting Maureen’s hospitality, while knowing he and Sylvie were here for an entirely different purpose.
He’d be keeping an ear out, while another of Sylvie’s team—someone she trusted to keep this sleepover quiet, not Priyanka—would watch Dominic’s security cameras to make sure no uninvited Syndicate guests turned up.
All evening, every time Dominic had smiled at her or brushed her hair affectionately, she’d nearly been sick. Either Dominic was a monster, or she was.
Max was counting on her. This plan had been her idea, and she didn’t know any other way to get back at those Russian hackers.
She couldn’t go through with this. But she had to go through with it.
Sylvie forced herself to breathe. She needed to think.
Everything Dominic had said or done tonight spoke to his sincerity. Was she just that gullible? Or had he been telling her the truth, all this time? If Dominic hadn’t lied to her, then…what? Should she call this off?
If the Syndicate was now his enemy, then taking them down would be a good thing for him too. Except he’d suggested he might reclaim his place as its leader. Not because he wanted to, but because he “should.” Whatever that meant.
He’d called it “the family business.” If Sylvie helped destroy the Syndicate, how would he react? Would he thank her for freeing him? Or would he hate her for interfering?
Her mind was spinning in circles trying to track the different possibilities, and it was leaving her dizzy.
A soft knock interrupted her thoughts. She opened the door and found Dominic in the hallway. He’d changed from his jeans into a faded pair of sweatpants. His white tee was the same, snug over his toned upper body.
“Can I come in?”
Flutters of anxiety spread through her insides. “Of course.” She stepped aside.
Dominic glanced over like he’d heard something strange in her voice. “You okay? You had fun tonight?”
“Definitely. I had a great time. I don’t think I said enough thank-yous to Maureen. She’s an amazing cook.”
“She is. I’m lucky to have her. She made tonight special, without me even having to ask.” He walked over to her bed and sat on the edge of it. Sylvie sat down next to him, gripping the bedspread beneath her hands.
“It was almost like a date,” he said, “except I couldn’t take you out because I’m legally barred from leaving my house. And my dates don’t usually bring bodyguards along with them. Though maybe they should.”
She laughed, and the sound was too high-pitched.
“You sure nothing’s wrong?”
“No. Er, yes. Nothing. Maybe I’m just…nervous.”
He turned those intense dark eyes on her. “I make you nervous?”
“A little. That can’t be a surprise.”
He leaned toward her. “You always surprise me.” His voice was breathy.
But instead of kissing her mouth, he kissed her forehead.
“I hate to do this. But would you mind if I take a rain check on the rest of tonight? The experimenting. I’m not in the right headspace.
I’m sorry. It’s nothing to do with you, I promise. ”
Half the tension left her body. There was no way she could’ve slept with him knowing what she was really here to do. She would’ve made a terrible spy.
“It’s totally fine. You don’t have to apologize.” But she also didn’t know what to think. If Dominic had truly wanted to manipulate her, wouldn’t he be eager to sleep with her?
“I know that’s why you came over here.” He raised his eyebrows. “So you could use me for sex.”
Sylvie almost choked as she coughed. “That’s not the only reason.”
“Most of my friends, ex-friends now, would’ve been pissed if I ended the party too soon. I was supposed to keep the good times rolling at all costs.”
She studied him. “You don’t have to do that with me.”
“I know that in theory. But it’s old habits.” He smiled sadly. “I’ll let you in on a secret. I don’t actually want to be the racehorse out to stud. That’s what a lot of people would expect me to want, and sometimes I forget the difference.”
“What would you be?”
“Maybe I’d do something related to art? I’ve always liked photography. How it can be stark or rich, quiet or expressive. But it’s always got a piece of the truth.”
She was trapped in her thoughts. If…if…if…
“Sylvie? You sure you’re okay?”
“I was just thinking. About what you said before.” She touched his cheek. “I don’t want to use you, Dominic.”
If she could only see into his soul. Know the truth. Tears stung her eyes and nose. She swallowed them down.
“My brothers just call me Nic. You could call me that, too.”
“Okay.”
“You don’t have to sleep over if you’d rather head home.”
“No, I like being here.” Every word was a blade she was plunging into her own heart. “With you.”
His hand reached for hers. “I mentioned my younger brother before. Raymond. You asked if I was worried about him, and I didn’t really answer. I didn’t want to tell you. But I’m very worried. I’m afraid my uncle is going to hurt Raymond to get back at me.”
“What are you going to do?”
Dominic squeezed his eyes shut. “I don’t know. I feel like I have no good options. No matter what I do, somebody’s going to get hurt. Maybe not physically. But they’ll feel betrayed.”
The lump in her throat was becoming a boulder. This man sitting next to her, he couldn’t be faking. There was just no way. She refused to believe it. Which meant…
There was only one liar in this room, and it wasn’t him.
“Couldn’t you talk to Lana in the DA’s Office? She has all kinds of contacts. I know she wants to help you.”
His gaze was wary. “But I don’t think she can. Nobody can. So, what do I do?”
Sylvie was asking herself that same question. “You’re not going to kill anyone, are you?”
He huffed a laugh. “No.”
She’d been ready to tell him not to do anything illegal, either. But who was she to make such demands? She broke laws all the time when she hacked into government databases or private networks.
“Then choose whichever course will cause the least harm,” she said, “while protecting the people you care most about. Even if someone feels betrayed, that’s better than having lives threatened.”
The Syndicate threatened lives all the time, especially now that his uncle was in charge. Dominic had just admitted it. If she had an opportunity to stop the Syndicate, she had to take it. No matter how much it pained her.
“That’s what I’m thinking, too,” he said. “But I still hate it.”
Me too. So much.
They held each other for a while before saying goodnight.
Sylvie got under the covers and stared into the dark. She’d already glanced around this floor while she was supposed to be getting ready for bed. Dominic had a laptop in an office down the hall. Once the house was quiet, she’d sneak down there and plug in the flash drive.
It would be over with soon enough. Maybe once it was done, this guilt wouldn’t be consuming her from the inside out.
Or maybe this feeling would just get worse.
I have to protect the people I care about, she reminded herself. Yet Dominic was starting to become one of those people.
She’d been so wrong about him.
But Sylvie had to be tough. She had a responsibility to Bennett Security.
If she didn’t install that malware on Dominic’s network, then the Syndicate hackers would take advantage of her weakness.
Dominic’s uncle could hurt countless innocents too, not just Bennett Security and its clients. She had to stay strong.
But maybe she could help Dominic in some small way.
Sylvie kicked off the covers and grabbed her phone to send a text to Max.
Sylvie: Put a bodyguard detail on Dominic’s younger brother, Raymond Crane. Danger from Syndicate is real. But please keep discreet. Must be very unofficial.
Max wrote back immediately, which didn’t surprise her. He was usually working late.
Max: Where are you? Have you completed your task yet?
She hadn’t told Max she was spending the night at Dominic’s, nor did she intend to. She’d already sworn Tanner to keep his mouth closed.
Sylvie: I’ll get it done, boss. But please do what I asked?
Max: On it. Keep me posted.
Sylvie went to her door and listened. Everything was quiet in the rest of the house. She opened the door a crack and peered into the dark.
No footsteps, no light. Dominic was probably asleep by now.
She had to do this. If she let her feelings for Dominic get in the way, then she’d failed.
Sylvie went back to her laptop bag and got the flash drive from a zippered pocket. She stashed it in the back pocket of her pajamas.
Her feet padded silently along the carpet.
When she got to Dominic’s office, she closed the door almost all the way. The room was nearly pitch black, so she used her phone as a light. She snuck over to the laptop and pushed open the lid.
A password window appeared, but that wasn’t a problem. Her program was designed to bypass the need for a password altogether.
Sylvie pulled the tiny rectangle of plastic from her pocket. It was so lightweight, yet it held such power. Days’ worth of work and cleverness. She was proud of this bundle of programs. And she also despised what it would do. Not the part about tracking down the hackers or harming the Syndicate.
But once she loaded what was on this device, there was no going back. Not where Dominic was concerned.
She found the USB port on the side of the laptop.
She inserted the drive.
Her fingers drummed against the desk as the laptop restarted, opening into safe mode. A tiny window appeared, and her code started scrolling. A status bar blinked to life, a counter marking rapid progress.
Thirty-eight percent. Thirty-nine.
Cold sweat broke out all over Sylvie’s body. Her breaths were shallow. Her pulse thrummed violently at her neck.
Seventy-two. Seventy-three.
Her throat kept constricting tighter and tighter.
Ninety-seven. Ninety-eight.
What am I doing?
With a curse, she grabbed hold of the flash drive and yanked it free. The status bar froze at ninety-nine percent.
Cancel? it asked her.
Hands shaking, she hit yes and then went through the steps of erasing any evidence of the aborted download from the computer’s RAM. She shut it down and restarted. When the password request appeared, she closed the laptop and backed away, shocked by what she’d just done.
She’d lost her fucking nerve. She might not get another opportunity to access Dominic’s computer. And Max was already getting impatient.
She could restart the loader right now, but the more she screwed around with this, the more likely the people monitoring Dominic’s network would notice some anomaly.
Yet even as these thoughts spun through her mind, she knew that she wasn’t going to try again.
Many times, Sylvie had hacked her way into places she wasn’t supposed to go.
But the rules she broke, the privacy she violated—the people affected—had always been anonymous, and she’d known her activities wouldn’t cause them any irreparable harm.
In fact, she’d been convinced she was serving the greater good.
But she couldn’t use Dominic this way. He trusted her, and she couldn’t violate that. Even though she knew she was making the wrong choice, and people might get hurt because of it.
Somehow, the idea that she’d hurt Dominic was worse. She was choosing him over her friends. Over Bennett Security. What kind of person did that make her?
A tear ran down her cheek, and she swiped it away.
She had to go tell Max she’d fucked up. They’d come up with some other plan to go after the Syndicate. At least, she prayed they would.
Sylvie pulled her sleeve over her hand and wiped off the laptop and its keyboard, just in case. The flash drive returned to her back pocket.
She rushed back out into the hallway. There was no way she could sleep tonight, but at least she could spend the hours until daylight brainstorming how she was going to make up for this.
But halfway back to her room, she collided with something solid in the dark.
“Sylvie? What are you doing out here?”
It was Dominic.
Shit.
More lies and excuses flew to her lips, but she wouldn’t let them out. She couldn’t bear it, not anymore. “I thought I had to do something. But I changed my mind. What are you doing?”
“The same.”
He reached over and switched on the light. His sharp gaze studied her. Dominic looked past her shoulder, as if trying to puzzle out where she’d just been.
“Were you in my office?” A quirk of his mouth suggested he was kidding, but his eyes said otherwise. “Were you spying on me, Sylvie?”
She took a step back. Then another. If she yelled for Tanner, how fast could he get here?
Was she honestly worrying about whether she needed her bodyguard right now?
“What’s wrong?” His eyebrows drew down. “Jesus. Are you afraid of me?”
“Should I be?”
He drew his hand across his eyes and leaned into the wall. “God, no. I’d never want you to be afraid of me. I don’t care what you were doing.”
She pushed out a guilty breath. “You sure about that?” Sylvie wasn’t afraid of him. But maybe she did want his anger. She deserved it.
Her fingers went to her back pocket and took out the flash drive. She held it up.
Dominic stared at the piece of plastic. But he didn’t do any of the things she’d expected. He didn’t grab it away from her, didn’t demand to know what it was. Instead, a look of profound sadness passed across his face.
Then he laughed.
Dominic stuck a hand in his own pocket and pulled out another USB flash drive.
Her stomach flipped. “What the hell is that?”
“Show me yours, I’ll show you mine?”