Chapter 39
Thirty-Nine
Ava
“How did you become Otto_Bot?” I ask as I sit across from Felix.
Now that he’d revealed himself to me, he’d been coming over more often.
I’m not sure how he manages to hide his identity, but literally every time he comes over, he’s wearing a new set of disguises.
Today, it’s a beard with a baseball hat and he’s dressed like a UPS driver.
Hell, there’s even a UPS truck in my driveway.
I guess at the very least, it looks like I might be having an affair with a delivery man.
My neighbors probably think it’s a porno come to life.
Felix looks up at me, his eyes tracing over my face and then down to my hand where I’d been scribbling notes about Dagen’s new product timeline.
We’ve managed to set everything up now and my team has been in charge of scheduling all the departments that we need to work on certain things.
The art department, the creative writing department, the graphics department, and the tech team.
There’s so much that goes into a marketing plan as large as this and too many moving parts.
It’s almost a relief to work on it though, to escape the idea of what I’m going to have to do.
I’ve started to come to terms with it. Dagen, Felix, and Wylan all make a fair point. Why would Ric stop now that I’ve attacked everything important to him? Why did I ever believe that would be enough?
“Luck, mostly,” Felix replies, his fingers flying across his keyboard. “I was really into computers as a kid and I kind of just fell into it. When the FBI came knocking on my door, I accepted the money they offered. When I didn’t like what they were doing, I went wide.”
“I bet they liked that,” I muse.
“Oh, that’s when I was added to the ‘Most Wanted’ list,” Felix says nonchalantly. “No government is my friend.”
“Were your parents proud of you when you got hired?” I ask, knowing my mom would have been had she been around and I’d achieved something like that.
Felix glances at me and then away. “I had foster parents. They didn’t really bother much with me, so no.” He shrugs. “It wasn’t a big deal though. It gave me the escape I needed, and when they would have kicked me to the curb when I hit eighteen, I instead had money to fall back on.”
“Well. . . I’m proud of you,” I say, smiling. “I’ve seen a bunch of your work, and it’s pretty awesome.”
His eyes meet mine. “Most would argue I’m a bad person for what I do.”
I shrug. “These days, everyone has skeletons in their closet. I’m about to add some to mine.”
He stands and comes around the table so suddenly, I flinch. When he jerks my chair out from under the table and turns me before leaning down in my face, I stiffen, my hands curling into the wood of the chair.
“No skeletons need to be added to your closet, Boba_Juliette,” he says, staring at me intensely. “We can handle that.”
“It feels wrong not to participate,” I whisper. “After all, you’re all here because of me.”
He kisses me, his lips moving over mine in a slow kiss that makes my toes curl.
When he pulls back, his eyes swirl with emotion.
“I’ll hurt him for every time he’s ever hurt you, Ava.
” He straightens. “I may not be capable of what Wylan is, but I can hurt him every other way that matters. I will. I am.” He sits down. “Just as soon as I can find him again.”
I frown. “You can’t find him?”
Felix hums. “He’s gone into hiding. Apparently, he’s been getting death threats and companies are trying to serve him for lawsuits. None of the servers can find him. Not for the last week.”
“You think. . .” I start. I’d been about to ask if he thought he wasn’t going to act at all, but that’s silly. I already know their answer. Still, Felix answers me.
“I think he’s gathering his resources, as few as he still has, to act,” he says, his fingers moving over the keyboard again as he takes his seat. “We stay alert, and if he makes a move, I’ll find him.”
I stare at the hacker, really study him, and I realize that Dagen and Wylan aren’t the only monsters I’ve found. Felix may not look it, not with his fake UPS uniform and glasses perched on his nose, but this man will tear down the digital world for me.
There’s no one better to keep me and Elsie safe than the three brutal men I’ve somehow given my heart to.
Even if they all end up leaving me in the end.