14. Dom
DOM
“Nothing.” Another bald faced lie I was telling to the only two people in this world that I trusted. “His phone was just full of dating apps and dick pics.”
“Ew.” Spencer cringed, leaning back in her chair.
It was obvious that Kiera was suspicious of me, but she’d spread that concern to Leo. For now, Spencer hadn’t noticed another wrong. But I knew Leo. Like a dog with a bone, she wouldn't let it go once she got a scent.
And I couldn’t be sure they’d believe this lie. Because I did find something else on his phone: an app I’d never seen before. One with the Zeus industries logo and a password encryption that scumbag-Grant wouldn’t give up.
Finding it had sent a wave of shock through my body. All of my worst fears realized in a matter of seconds.
But the worst part was that Spencer, Leo, and Kiera were starting to catch on.
Every day that I kept the truth from them — that Zeus must have something to do with the men building a trafficking ring in our own backyards — was another day of lost trust I’d have to fix when they inevitably found out.
And I wasn’t ready to beg for forgiveness. Especially not from her.
Leo scoffed. “Bullshit, it couldn’t have been nothing. You looked like you’d seen a ghost.”
Yeah like my own mother resurrected in front of my face.
But she wasn’t wrong, just wrong about when the haunting had begun. My eyes flicked over to my personal apparition, Kiera’s prying eyes peeled on me.
She wouldn’t look away. Something she’d always been good at, staring me down until I told her the truth. Out of all of them, Kiera just might have been the best at seeing right through me. She just didn’t realize why.
I wondered if she felt haunted by me, by this house as much as I did.
Maybe we were just two ghosts dancing in the dark halls of this abandoned manor, waiting for someone to free our souls.
No one would come to free us, no priest with holy water to rid us of this demon. We’d have to do that ourselves.
Right now, all I needed was to get Leona off this. If she could be diverted, I could keep hiding from the truth.
“No. Frustrated by more dead ends.” Swallowing the truth, I looked back at Leo and tried to sell the lie.
I felt Leo’s suspicious eyes, taking in my every mannerism.
Maybe I should have told them. Maybe they would have understood the situation I found myself in. Or maybe The Oracle was right to want secrecy, to want me to keep this connection from them.
They wouldn’t understand how I ended up in this position. They’d feel betrayed. It could compromise the mission.
Besides, Spencer and Leo were best used for protecting our hostage. The girl who caught my blindspots. I couldn’t trust myself to keep an eye on her, not without the past bubbling back into my chest and forcing its way to my mouth.
Their protection of her would have to be enough.
“How do you know Gabe?”
The question made my heart stop. And of course it came from her, Kiera’s smug face on the couch.
“Excuse me?” I scoffed.
Crossing her arms, Kiera shook her head. “The press conference. You recognized his name. How?”
Leo and Spencer’s eyes flicked between us, realizing Kiera was telling the truth and that I was keeping something from them.
“I know him from the industry. He’s a startup kid, we both work in tech.” I tried to swallow the nerves, wanting her to buy it. To be fair, it was the truth. At least part of it.
It was only recently that we’d become actually connected in our businesses. Before that, Gabriel was just my father’s little pet project — a new person to keep on a leash. A way to make up for the past.
“Really? That’s it?” Kiera pushed, her eyebrows raised with suspicion.
I leaned forward in my chair, hands gripping the arm rest as I stared her down. “Oh, Viper. You think you caught a mouse? I’m the fucking eagle that grabs you from a meadow and devours you before you can even bare those fangs of yours.”
Standing, I licked my teeth and doubled down. “I don’t fucking know him. Just some twat I recognize from the trades.”
Clearing my throat and diverting attention, I nodded to Leo. “Callahan, we have work to do.” I tilted my head toward the door, knowing she would fill in the blanks.
We both knew what was next for Kiera, what we required to let her truly into the fold. Even if it was the last thing I wanted.
And I needed Leo’s help to do it.
As I left the room, nodding a farewell to Spencer and ignoring Kiera’s angry, green eyes, my mind jumped back to the phone.
If Gabe and Isaac were so serious about their hunt for Kiera that they’d issue a company branded app and distribute it to their pack of wild boars then it was time for me to go directly to the tech prodigy myself.
Turning to Leo, I lowered my voice. “We need to talk about increasing security. Weapons. Guard dogs.”
“Security cameras?” Leo suggested.
I shook my head. “No, can’t be trusted. Gabriel’s network will be able to hack into it.”
Of course it was highly illegal for a private company to hack into a private security system, but that had never stopped Isaac or Gabe in the past. The only way it could be safe was with the help of Laniidae’s hacking genius, Teresa Mendez.
The rest of those girls were a chaotic mess. But Mendez was smart, considered, and worth her salt.
It was a shame she had no interest in motorcycles, or she'd have made a worthy recruit for Valemont Violence. Maybe I could have recruited Kennedy to teach her a thing or two --- god knows they spent enough time together --- but I had a feeling she had other opportunities on her radar.
She might be able to get us on an undetectable network.
I’d do whatever it took to keep us all safe. More than anything, I needed Kiera. And so did The Oracle. Which meant I didn’t have a choice.
Despite how infuriating she was, I couldn’t risk anything happening to Kiera, not under my watch. Not ever.