Chapter 17
MIKHAIL
Aria adapts more easily to life here with me than I’d expect her to. I don’t blame her, when I think about it. She was on the run long enough, not even knowing where her next meal would come from, it only makes sense that she appreciates having a roof over her head.
She won’t like living with me, I can guarantee that. But I don’t need her to like it. I need her to stay.
It’s strange that when I look at her phone over the next few days, I notice no unusual behavior.
She’s a hacker, after all. I half suspected she’d be downloading software, communicating with her friends, or at the very least researching and learning about my family and what she’s gotten into. She doesn’t so much as open up an app.
Does she have no friends?
I have a large volume of work to catch up on over the next few days, so I stay home and work from my at-home office while she gets accustomed to life here.
On the third day, she comes to my office wearing a pout.
“Alright, I’m bored out of my skull.” She crosses her arms on her chest and glares at me.
Ah. This is what I was waiting for. She can only behave for so long before her true personality will shine.
“Oh?” I ask. “Maybe download a game on that damn phone you hardly touch.”
“I don’t want to crush candy, Mikhail.”
I continue perusing the spreadsheet Lev gave me and don’t turn toward her.
“Do I detect a recalcitrant tone, little hacker? Have I taken such poor care of you?” My voice is deceptively low.
She heaves a huge sigh. “You call me little hacker and yet you don’t give me a chance to actually, like, hack.
Or do anything other than sit around and look pretty and then eat food in between…
well, you know, sex. And while looking pretty and eating good food are nice things, I don’t want that to be all I do every day. ”
I turn and give her a curious look. “Did I tell you that’s what I want you to do?”
“No, but you haven’t given me any options, either.”
I lean back in my chair. “Haven’t I?”
She narrows her eyes at me. “Wait. The letter said I had a credit card and that I could leave, I just have to have your permission. Right?”
“Yes. And the answer is no, you may not leave. Not now. It isn’t safe right now.”
Her face falls, but only for a second. “But I can buy a computer with the credit card?”
“You can buy all of goddamn Apple with that credit card. You could hire someone to come here and build you a computer from scratch and someone else to bring a small menagerie of animals to entertain you while he did it. Go for it.”
She bites her lip and shakes her head. “I have no use for those products. Apple? God, are you even serious right now?”
She’s fucking adorable. “Let me guess. You want to build your own computer with open-source software so no one can track you?”
She throws her hands up in the air. “Of course! Jesus, tell me you’re not using a MacBook.”
I show her my own laptop, custom-built by Aleks. “Of course not.”
“Good, they’re fine for like normal people, but people like me and you need privacy and security,” she says with a serious nod.
“Right. People like me and you. So get yourself some equipment already.”
“But I can’t go in person?”
I think it over. I could send her with one of my brothers or security guards. While Volkov’s sent an apology, we did indeed get our retribution, so I have no doubt he’s ready and able to strike again, and soon.
“No. Not this time.”
With a labored sigh, she sits back in the chair. “Alright, so I can work with you?”
“Of course. I’ll expect you to. The credit card has been loaded into your phone so you may buy what you need.”
She eyes me suspiciously as she takes her phone out and swipes on it with her fingers. “No way. Well, fancy that. Whoa.” She quietly swipes across screens for a few minutes. “Do you have any idea how risky that is? You should definitely not have this loaded on a phone.”
“Really? Interesting.”
“Unless you don’t care about losing a few grand before your credit card company realizes.” She pauses. I continue to read the data on the spreadsheet I need for a meeting later today. “Wait. Like you don’t care about a few thousand dollars?”
“I do care about a few thousand dollars, yes, but it’s more important to me that you can easily buy what you need rather than bother about details. Just buy what you need, Aria.”
“Alrighty then.” Another few minutes of quiet swiping. “You sure I can’t grab a ride to Coney Island? It says here—”
“No. You may ask Aleks to pick up anything you need. He’s the best man for the job.”
She gives a little grimace. “Yeah, pretty sure he hates my guts.”
He’d better fucking not “hate her guts.” I go still.
“What gives you that impression?”
“Oh, only the way I made him look like a douchebag in front of all of you because he’s shit at cybersecurity and he thinks I’m threatening him or something.” She clamps her hand over her mouth.
I slowly close the laptop and turn to face her.
“He doesn’t hate you, but you’re not exactly his best friend. Has he been rude to you in any way?”
My voice is deceptively calm. If he so much as looked at her sideways…
“Well, no. It’s just a vibe.”
“Ah. I see. A ‘vibe.’ Don’t think I missed the curse you said, Aria.”
My dick throbs at the look she’s giving me. Pure, unadulterated defiance. Her chin juts out and there’s challenge in her eyes.
My little hacker needs attention, it seems.
“You’re not allowed to curse. I don’t want to hear those words coming out of that pretty mouth of yours.”
“Oh yeah?” she asks in a low voice laced with resistance. She tips her head to the side. “Would you object to my mouth wrapped around your cock?”
I reach for my belt and unbuckle it. My cock throbs. “Let’s test that theory.”