CHAPTER SEVENTY
Ella
W e breathe a sigh of relief when Balor’s phone pings, coming to life again with missed calls and messages.
We watch the computer screen come back to life. All the bank withdrawals shift into reverse, emptying from the account in my name.
Balor explains that my father used a veil code that also jammed the O’Rourke phones, so Balor couldn’t make calls or hack into the banks to stop it.
He stays glued to Dad’s laptop for an hour, digging through all his files, and with Eoghan on the line, they confirm every penny is accounted for.
One by one, each brother calls him like the night we were stuck in the snowstorm.
When Balor hangs up with Kieran, he shuts the office door.
“We have to talk.” His voice is flat and unemotional.
He was told to end his relationship with me, I know it. He’d started talking Gaelic over the multiple heated conversations, yelling and slamming his fists on the desk.
I’ve been holding it together. And now...
Now it’s over. And I can’t blame him. How do I know this won’t happen again? How do I know next week there aren’t more tripwires planned and another set of withdrawals won’t start all over?
I walk with pain searing up my leg, wearing a cumbersome aircast because Wesley carved away the rose tattoo on my ankle. Just to be a dick and hurt me, since I’d had that one when we met. That one didn’t cover his sins, but he wanted to make new ones.
“It’s okay, Balor.” I put my hands on my stomach. “These are your babies. I won’t keep them from you.”
“What are you talking about? ”
“I gather your family is livid with me. And I don’t blame them.”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa. They’re livid. But not with you, I promise.” He strokes my cheek. “They’re furious with me. I hired your father and put us in this position because of my own thirst for power. I knew I should haven’t touched you, but I couldn’t resist you. This is my fault.”
But it’s not like Kieran will put a hit on him.
Right?
“How did my father do this? I want to understand your world better, Balor.”
Because he’s going to be in mine for the rest of my life.
“He was feeding that bank-draining virus code a PIN every couple of days to keep it from launching. When he killed himself, it triggered the withdrawals.”
I shake my head. “He could have been hit by a car! How freaking reckless!”
“I know, butterfly.” His eyes slip closed and for a second, I see him wiping away a tear. “Ella, come look at your dad’s laptop.”
“Balor, no offense, I know this is your world, your beating heart, but I don’t ever want to see another computer again.” I’m ready to close all my social media accounts, too.
“I located your father’s ransomware code.”
My heart stops. “You did?”
“In another file. Along with an email from a hacker in Japan.”
“What?”
“Your dad planned to sell him the code for one billion dollars.”
One. Billion. Dollars.
“Do you know who this guy in Japan is?” I ask, keeping my lunch down.
“I sure do. ”
“Okay. Why are you looking at me so funny.”
“The code is tangible property, according to Eoghan, and not abandoned, in legal terms. We found his will, too. You’re the sole beneficiary, Ella.”
My father was cremated, his ashes sitting in a box here in the apartment. Balor and Shane declared him dead, falsifying a death certificate.
“The code is mine, technically?” I stare at him. “And you’d hand it over to me?”
“Absolutely. It’s not mine.” He swivels in my father’s chair, looking back at the laptop screen.
I glance around. Dad left me nothing but debt. Debt Balor is paying off for me. I could sell this code and have one billion-freaking dollars?
That means I can pay Balor back. Pay his family back. Earn my respect back. Be Balor’s equal.
“Is this Japanese guy a good guy like you?”
“No,” he scoffs. “Not at all. He’s linked to the destruction at the Fukushima Power Plant in 2011. When the tsunami hit, he struck the power plant, hoping the chaos would cover it up.”
“Then no freaking way am I giving him the code, selling it, whatever. I’m not giving it to anyone.” I’ve seen what that code can do.
“Not for one billion dollars?” He gently leans forward, resting his elbows on the desk. “You need to think about this very carefully. You’ll be independent and won’t need anyone. Not even me.”
It’s an easy decision. My pride isn’t for sale.
Is Balor testing me? Living in a mafia family requires loyalty. I get it.
“There’s nothing to think about, Balor.” I stand tall. “Where is that code? Delete it.”
“I’m not deleting it. It’s not mine. It’s yours.” He clicks something and sheets of paper spit out of my father’s printer.
I grab one of the many sheets. Garbled letters, numbers, and symbols I don’t understand make up my father’s ransomware code.
My ransomware code.
“Balor, I don’t want this. I want you. I want us.”
He stands, eyes lowered. “You’d rather have me than one billion dollars?”
I move closer and throw my arms around him. “I’d rather get one billion dollars the old-fashioned way.”
“The oldest profession in the world?” He grinds against me.
“Been there. Done that. If we’re getting married—”
“ If we’re getting married?”
I flash the obscene engagement ring that I’ve been wearing since Balor brought me home. I refuse to take it off. “This means you and I are getting married.”
“I won’t force you to marry me, butterfly.” He pulls out of my arms and scoops up the printouts. “Especially not in light of this.”
“I’m confused,” I whisper.
His hands shake, curling the pages back, one at a time. “I had planned to steal the code from your father. That’s why I hired him. Not to use it the way he did. Not to hurt strangers.” Balor hurts his enemies.
His brothers kill their enemies.
“Now you have it.” I don’t bother asking why he doesn’t sell it. “What’s mine is yours.”
His jaw tightens. He’s already rich and knows that with this code in the hands of someone truly evil and not just mischievous like my father—trying to bankrupt the O’Rourkes excluded—the world will never be safe.
“Then you know that what belongs to me , belongs to you .” He sits down again and pulls me onto his lap. “My money is your money. I can also spend any amount of money on you I want.”
He already bought me a plane. I can’t imagine how he tops that.
“Last chance, butterfly.”
“Not a chance, Maverick. This butterfly has happily tangled her wings inside your web. Forever.”