Chapter 34
Secrets
Jade
It was past midnight, but I was wide awake, sitting in Alex’s lap with a wine glass in my hand. His fingers dragged up and down my naked thigh as I delivered the news, barely holding back my laughter.
“I have a date next week. With one of the investigators.”
Alex’s pupils dilated so fast that his already dark eyes turned almost black. “A date?” His voice was low, dangerous enough to send a shiver through me. “Who’s bold enough to ask my girlfriend out on a date?”
I giggled, giving him a little peck, but he took it further. His fingers dug into my flesh, and he pressed me to him, as if sucking me into a kiss would mark me as his.
Forever his.
“There’s this investigator, I think he likes me, and—”
“Of course he likes you.” Alex nodded, calm, but alert. He was jealous, and it turned me on.
“He’s been on the team since the beginning, he knows everything.
He’s the perfect tool. If I can steal his laptop, we can figure out how to break into it and then have access to all the information.
” Alex didn't interrupt and listened intently.
"We can figure out which evidence is located where and make it disappear. "
I was still so proud of my plan and how I’d charmed Julian that morning. Alex mulled it over while he twirled a lock of my hair.
"You don't need to steal his laptop. We just need access to it. We've done it before; it's not very complicated."
I sat there stunned and a little dejected that my original plan didn't seem to be the best option.
"Of course," I finally clued in. "That's how you find your targets. You breach the cybersecurity at dealerships…and get ownership details.”
We had a whole meeting about this a few months ago—the investigators finally figured out how The Nightcrawlers had been getting exact addresses of their targets.
"Mhm,” Alex confirmed with an easy nod. "He just has to open an attachment, and then we can bypass their security and have access to everything."
“What attachment does he have to open?” I asked when my lips were on his collarbone. "For this to work?" Alex's large, tattooed hands were settled on my lower back, holding me so tenderly.
"Any. A document, a picture, doesn't matter. As soon as he opens it, game over,” he spoke casually, like we weren't planning a cybercrime together.
"That's perfect.”
"Oh! Jade! I wasn't expecting you today. Come in, come in!"
Julian's cheeks flushed at the sight of me in the doorway of his office. My hair flowed in relaxed waves, my subtle smoky eye makeup accentuated my eyes, and my low-cut top left very little to the imagination.
Early in the morning, Alex and I picked out my outfit together, and while he was cooperative, he was also murderously quiet when he swiped a piece of lint from my top.
He leaned against the doorway of my bathroom as he watched me curl my hair, his arms crossed, his eyebrows furrowed.
And when it was time for me to go, he left a most tender kiss on my lips.
I missed him.
"Hi, Julian! Sorry, I realized I had such a busy week, I didn't want to disappoint you and not show up." I was already sitting in front of him, my back straight and my smile radiant.
Poor Julian. He shifted his gaze in discomfort, and I turned my head, giving him a chance to stare at my cleavage.
"Cute space. I guess they give investigators nice, big offices for all your interrogations, huh?" I blabbered on nonsense, counting down five seconds for him to get a good look. Sure enough, his eyes shot up to my face once I brought my gaze back to him.
"Oh, we don't question suspects here,” he stated the obvious, as if I had no idea what happened in his line of work. "We have special rooms for that."
Ugh. Julian seemed so na?ve and young, and while I myself wasn’t a seasoned professional, he reminded me of someone who’d just graduated high school, even though he'd been on the team for almost a decade.
"Interesting...” I nodded, keeping my eyes on him. “This seems very private, too." All my sexual energy went into that phrase, luring Julian into a trap. It was working—Julian was lost for words.
Taking my time, I stood up and strutted to the door, closing it softly. Then, I turned on my heels and strolled toward Julian, who was frozen to his chair, watching me like I was an apparition.
Nervous laughter bubbled in my throat, but I suppressed it, letting it come out as a soft sigh when I leaned my butt against his desk, right in front of him. Julian breathed shakily, and I wondered if he was a virgin or something. Why was he so intimidated?
"Are you okay? You’ve never had a girl come over to your office before?" I asked playfully, throwing my hair back and gifting him a small smile. Julian chuckled and then coughed, stumbling over his own reaction.
"Uhm-m,” he stuttered, “yes. I m-mean, no. Not like you.”
He was so sincere. Oh man. It was bad to use poor Julian like this.
"So, what does a girl have to do to get a cup of coffee around here?" I moved past my unpleasant feeling and decided to get this over with quickly. Julian nodded and bolted out of his office in search of coffee.
I sprang into action immediately.
I closed the office door behind him and headed straight for the large bookshelves across from his desk.
The spot was perfect—I located it when I gave Julian the time to enjoy the view of my cleavage.
Right where two bookcases connected, I wedged in a small camera just how Alex and I discussed.
My little flip phone rang at exactly that moment.
"Looks perfect, just like you. Give me a show while he's gone." Alex's silly request brought a huge smile to my face, and in response, I squeezed my tits together and bounced them right in front of the camera.
"Yeah, just like that, baby. Pull your top down,” he continued with gusto.
"Pervert." I giggled and hung up, quickly resuming my spot in front of Julian's desk.
A: If he so much as touches your finger I will ?????? him.
The text arrived within one second of me sitting down, just as Julian returned with two cups of disgusting coffee. He noticed the smile on my face and smiled too, thinking my joy was for him.
With a coffee in hand, I sat in front of Julian, and…it was awkward. We didn’t have much to talk about. In fact, we had nothing to talk about.
“So, Julian.” I cleared my throat, thinking of how to start and end this in five minutes. “Your report yesterday—it was very well prepared. Especially on such short notice.”
Oh fuck, I was going to blow it. The report on Alex killing Alex Slater? Why the fuck did I bring that up?!
But Julian lit up like a Christmas tree from the compliment. “Thank you,” he gushed, as if no one had ever spoken a kind word to him. “I was up all night compiling it. The Nightcrawlers are always ruining my sleep.”
A wide smile slid onto my face, completely out of my control. Not me. The Nightcrawlers—one in particular—were always careful about my sleep. Always gave me all the time in the world to rest.
“The Nightcrawlers, huh?” I said more stupid things. “It’s been a grind.”
Julian nodded slowly, but then floored me with his next statement. “I think we’re close to ending my sleepless nights, though.”
I furrowed my eyebrows, putting on my best questioning face while my entire body lit up like a match. What the fuck did that mean?
“Can I tell you a secret? Promise not to tell anyone?” Julian leaned on his desk and lowered his voice.
"Of course," I responded with all my authority and sensuality.
"I'm really not supposed to tell you this. Or anyone. It's absolutely top-secret information." The way he explained it made me think his next words would be ridiculous, like he was going to tell me he liked me and that was the secret.
"Don't tell anyone.” Fucking Julian spoke in circles instead of spitting it out. I shook my head, indicating that I wouldn’t tell a soul. “I just…I just need to get it off my chest, and I feel like I can trust you, right?"
Oh, absolutely, I'm very trustworthy. I nodded eagerly, the concern on my face giving him permission to continue in a hushed voice.
"We're going to accelerate this whole thing."
Julian revealed the secret, and my legs went numb. I blinked at him, suppressing any sort of visible reaction.
“Their office? The one that burned down? We can’t find anything in the aftermath.
” I barely breathed, afraid to miss any of Julian’s words.
“But it also gives us an edge. If we can’t find anything…
” Julian paused and raised his eyebrows.
“Then we’re going to find something.” He used air quotes and winked at me, the understanding hitting me instantly. “This’ll be over soon.”
My fingers trembled around the coffee cup, and I placed it on my knee, trying to quell my shock. “H-how soon?” I cleared my throat, hoping he couldn’t hear the way my heart hammered.
Julian met my gaze, almost looking proud as he delivered the blow. “Two weeks. Give or take.”
A phone rang somewhere outside his office, but we sat together quietly. Two weeks.
“Top secret, Jade. Don’t tell anyone,” Julian warned me again.
Two weeks.
“I look forward to the wrap-up,” I lied, gulping down my fear. “Then we can go on a real date."
I rushed out of Julian’s office in complete disarray.
He was either incredibly stupid to tell me this or he was tricking me.
I was involved in a multilayered game of deceit, and I had no clue whether my opponents knew more than they let on or who I was up against. As far as I was concerned, it was Alex and me against the whole damn world.
And that was proven once more when I returned to my office and saw none other than Xavy the rapist sitting with a cup of coffee in my father’s office. It was all tumbling down like a house of cards.
“Jade? Come into my office, please.” My father’s authoritative voice sounded when I tried to sneak by. I paused mid-step, taking a deep breath in to prepare myself.