Chapter 7
Chapter Seven
Frankie
“Shit. I’m missing something.” I squint at the screen, rubbing my burning eyes.
“It’s right here, I can feel it.” Lines of ones and zeros run across the screen, fragments of information that are leading us nowhere.
I feel like I’ve been going in circles for…
I glance at the clock in the corner of the screen. “Seriously?”
Cyber turns his head towards me and pops an earbud out of his ear. “What?”
My brow furrows. “How did you hear me with those things in?”
He glances down at the white AirPod. “I only had one in,” he explains before asking again, “What are you ‘seriously-ing’ about?”
“I feel like I’ve been going in circles for days, but it’s only been a few hours.” We’re chasing digital fucking ghosts, and it’s starting to get to me.
His eyes bounce between mine. “You need a break.”
I sigh. Heather can’t afford for me to take a break. She’s out there somewhere, scared and alone, and every second we waste is another second these monsters are doing god knows what to her.
“I can see that I’m wasting my breath.” His eyes go to the screen in front of me. “Maybe try tracing the origin point again.” He takes off his hat, runs his fingers through his hair, and puts it back on his head. “Maybe we missed something.”
I nod, even though I’ve already checked and rechecked everything three times.
“Yeah. Maybe,” I mutter, typing furiously.
“Whoever’s running this knows what they’re doing.
The signal’s bounced through at least seven different countries in the last twenty seconds.
” And it’s pissing me off! How the hell am I supposed to find a backdoor into their network?
Cyber grunts his agreement, never taking his eyes off his screen.
I glance back at the time. It’s been hours since Bane brought me in here with a parting, ‘I’ll leave you to it.’ Whatever the hell that even means. At this point, I’m not sure if he’s coming back or if I’m stuck here until we find something.
Part of me wants to see him again, and the other wants him to stay the hell away from me. Which is ridiculous.
The man kidnapped me, for crying out loud.
I wonder if it’s too early to be developing Stockholm Syndrome.
My mind drifts to the woman I saw earlier at the clubhouse. She couldn’t take her eyes off of him. I get a sour feeling in my gut. Maybe he’s with her now. Maybe they’re…
Yanking my glasses off my face and slinging them across the desk, I scrub my hands over my face.
Why do I even care what he’s doing? It’s not like he’s my boyfriend or anything. Hell, we’re not even friends. So what if we’ve come to some unspoken truce? It’s not like he’s going to magically forget about the hundred grand I stole from him.
I must be entering that delusional state of exhaustion.
Picking my glasses up off the desk, I slide them back on my face. I don’t have time to worry about Bane and his stupid deep blue eyes and sexy smirk. There’s a girl out there who needs my help.
“I need some coffee.” I yawn and pick up my mug. Glancing down into the bottom, I frown.
“Ugh,” I groan.
“What?” Cyber asks, spinning in his chair to face me.
I swing my gaze his way. You know, he doesn’t look anything like the nerds I went to college with.
My eyes travel over his backwards black ball cap, his pale blue eyes, and across the NASA tee that he fills out to absolute perfection.
“How old are you?”
His brow pinches. “Twenty-five…” he drawls. “Why?”
I shrug. “Just curious.”
He’s more my age than Bane is, and yet he doesn’t hold a candle to the asshole who’s my jailer while I’m here.
“You okay?” he grins.
Sighing, I slump back in my chair. I honestly don’t know if I am or not.
I’m conflicted.
I was convinced Cooper “Bane” Benson and the Kings were the devil. That they did something to my dad, but everything I’m learning about them is saying something completely different.
I mean, they’re throwing a lot of fucking resources into finding Heather. “I’ll be better when we find the girl.”
“We will find her, Frankie. I know it seems hopeless, but we’re close. I know it,” Cyber promises.
“Yeah,” I sigh. I hope he’s right.
“You can—”
“Delivery!” Bane calls out, cutting Cyber off as he swaggers in with a tray of coffees in one hand, and a white bag with pink curly lettering in the other.
“Please tell me that’s from the Sugar Shack,” I ask, my mouth already watering at the smell of warm sweet treats filling the air.
Bane’s lips twitch as he drops the bag into my grabby hands. “It is.”
Dipping my head, I breathe in the sugary goodness. “Doin’ the Lord’s work,” I hum.
“I don’t know about alla’ that,” he chuckles, sidestepping me and pulling one of the cups of joe from the drink tray, handing it to Cyber.
Cyber eagerly accepts Bane’s offering and slugs back a long drink. “I do. Thanks, brother.”
“No problem,” Bane says, his eyes coming to me. “Y’all find anything?”
My excitement about the glazed donut holes vanishes into thin air at his question. “No.” I shake my head. “Nothing. Every time we get close, we hit another wall,” my voice breaks. I know it’s going to take time, but I feel overwhelmed, like I’m failing.
One by one, the big crocodile tears start to fall.
“Shit,” Cyber curses, his eyes rounding when he sees that I’m crying.
Bane’s eyes swing my way, and his face softens. “Hey, hey. None of that,” he says gently, pulling me into his arms, and just this once I let myself melt into his embrace. “It’s gonna be okay, baby,” he whispers.
Nodding my head, I sob. I want to believe him, but it seems impossible.
Another sob slips past my lips as I hang onto Bane, trying to hold it all in, but I can’t.
I’ve been burning the candle at both ends for the last month, trying to find my dad and learning that the Kings were the last ones to see him alive.
Or so I thought. And then sneaking around the dark web, draining Bane’s bank, which I now feel really bad about because he clearly isn’t the man I thought he was.
He’s trying to save an innocent girl from real monsters. I’m such a bad person.
I cry harder.
“We’ll find her, babe. I promise we will.”
After a long beat, I finally rein in my emotions. “I’m sorry,” I apologize, rubbing my nose against the soft fabric of his t-shirt.
“For crying all over me, or using me as your personal tissue?” He teases, rubbing my back in a soothing motion.
Closing my eyes, I lean more heavily against his solid chest. “Both.”
“You’re tired, baby. You need some sleep.”
I sigh, nodding. I am tired, and I like it when he calls me baby, which is a whole other problem I don’t have the mental capacity to deal with right now.
“She good to leave for a while?” I hear Bane ask Cyber as he tightens his arm around my back.
I turn my head to see Cyber flashing me a sympathetic grin. “Yeah, I think a shower and some shut-eye sounds like a good idea.”
“I’ll be back later,” I promise, not wanting Cyber to think I’m abandoning him.
“Take your time,” he says, already turning back to his screens. “Sometimes a fresh set of eyes is all we need.”
Bane keeps his arm around me as he leads me out of the vault. The way he’s taking care of me feels... nice. I’m not used to having someone look out for me. Dad was always too busy with his mayoral duties to notice if I was eating or sleeping or, you know, existing.
“Where are we going?” I ask when Bane steers us toward the clubhouse instead of his loft.
“To see if any of those bitches have some clothes that’ll fit you,” he answers, not breaking stride.
I elbow him in the ribs. “That’s not nice. Don’t call women bitches.”
He grunts in response, not bothering to argue.
The second we step into the clubhouse, Bane hisses under his breath. “Shit.”
He starts to turn us right back out the door, muttering, “We’ll come back later.”
My brow furrows. He’s acting weird. Why the heck do we need to leave and come back when we’re already here now?
Before I can open my mouth to ask as much, a woman’s musical voice calls out his name.
His eyes close. “Fuck.”
My eyes go wide? What the hell? I look over my shoulder to find a woman approaching us. She’s beautiful with wild auburn hair and crystal blue eyes—Bane’s eyes.
“Cooper Allen Benson! You get your butt back here.”
I swing my gaze up to Bane. Oh shit. She just called him out by his whole name.
His eyes open slowly, his shoulders deflating. “Mornin’, Ma.”
Ma? This is Bane’s mother?
I try to make myself smaller against his side, suddenly very aware that I’m wearing his clothes and probably look like we spent the night doing things that—yeah, just no.
“Don’t you ‘Mornin’ Ma’ me,” she says, crossing her arms over her chest. “Your father told me everything.” Her eyes flick to me, her expression softening. “Are you alright, sweetheart?”
I blink rapidly, not sure how to respond. She seems genuinely concerned, which throws me off balance.
“Ma, this isn’t—” Bane starts, but his mother cuts him off with a wave of her hand.
“Not now, Cooper.” She reaches out and gently takes my arm, pulling me away from her son. “Come here, honey.”
To my complete shock, she pulls me into a warm hug. I stand there stiffly, not used to motherly affection—or any affection, really.
“I’m Roxy,” she says when she pulls back, keeping her hands on my shoulders. “And you must be Francesca.”
“Frankie,” I correct automatically. “Nobody calls me Francesca.”
She smiles, and it’s warm and genuine. “Well, Frankie, are you okay? Has my son been treating you well?”
I glance at Bane, who’s watching us with a pained expression. “Um, yeah. I mean, considering...” I trail off, not sure how to explain our situation to his mother.
“Pop shouldn’t be telling you club business,” Bane grumbles, running a hand through his hair.