Chapter 20 #2
His eyes crinkle around the edges, a rare sight that does funny things to my heart. I swallow.
“You stay and rest in bed for a little while. I’ll check on you and then we can make a plan for tonight.”
I sigh. I don’t want to stay in bed, but he has a point, and I know he won’t budge, either.
“Can you pretty please bring me my laptop though?”
“Which one?”
It’s a fair question. I’ve maybe gone a little crazy with that credit card.
“Hmm. The rose gold one, please.”
I maybe had a little fun with that.
While he gets the laptop, I head to the closet to get something comfy to wear.
I still feel a little guilty going into this closet.
I never had anything like this in my life, and now I have more than I could’ve ever imagined.
If my mother saw me now…I pull out a pair of soft white sweats and a hoodie when a garment bag catches my attention.
I peek at the dress hidden behind a blanket of plastic, hanging right in front. Is this…oh, wow. Okay, so this is the dress he got me for the gala. I lift the plastic to take a peek.
Wow.
Woooowwww.
It’s breathtaking. I reach a tentative finger out to touch the coal black, luxurious satin bodice.
It’s elegant and sophisticated, modest because he won’t showcase me too much, but…
sexy as hell. Spaghetti straps and a fitted bodice, accented with a panel of sheer lace at the waist and a cinched waistline accented with a thin satin ribbon.
A full, A-line skirt, a narrow hem adorned with rhinestones.
Or are those diamonds? I’ve never worn anything like this in my life.
I let the plastic drop. My eyes fall on a few shoe boxes, each labeled in my size, and a hanger featuring the sweetest little handbag with a rhinestone clasp that matches the hem of my dress.
I’ll feel like a princess tonight.
No, not a princess.
A queen.
An elegant, sophisticated queen.
But for now, I’m just Aria, certified hacker.
I hear Mikhail’s footsteps. I join him in the room.
“That dress is stunning,” I tell him as I climb back into the bed.
“Mm,” he says with pursed lips. “If you go tonight. Let’s make sure you are well.”
I prop myself up on pillows and notice the wooden tray with tea and snacks on the bedside table. He had his staff bring them up. I swallow the lump in my throat.
“I should be fine. I really think it was just something I ate.”
“Or,” he says, lifting a brow at me. “It’s just too early to test, like Polina suggested.”
Why do I always forget he has access to my phone and reads my texts? I stifle a grumble.
“Right.”
Is it, though? I don’t want to think about that. Right now, I don’t have any reason to believe I’m pregnant, and I’m perfectly fine with that. There’s no positive test.
It’s a bug. Something I ate. Hormones. Whatever.
“You have a job for me to do today?” I ask hopefully. In the past week or so he’s given me various tasks to do. It’s the highlight of my day, using my skills, even if what we do isn’t exactly…well, legal.
“Yes, and it’s time sensitive.”
I fist pump. My favorite.
“I’d like you to find your way into border security.
We have a shipment of goods coming in from Canada, costly merchandise we need for tonight’s gala — rare artwork we are planning to auction.
Should’ve arrived three days ago, but border agents found out they were being delivered to us in The Cove and they’re being dicks about it. ”
I rub my hands together gleefully. “Oh, yeah,” I say with a little chuckle. “That’s what I’m talking about.”
A corner of Mikhail’s lips quirks up. “You’re beautiful when you’re in your evil genius mode.”
I wave a hand at him, though my heart does a quick little thump of approval. “You say that about everything.”
Leaning in, he captures the back of my neck and brings my mouth to his with a sensual kiss that makes my toes curl. I soften against him and sigh. It’s not fair how quickly he does that to me.
“That’s because it’s true,” he whispers in my ear before planting another kiss to the top of my head. “I’ll be in the office. Aleks is downstairs to detail an attempted cyberattack from some of our rivals.”
“Oh?” I ask with feigned nonchalance. Aleks and I do not get along. “Send him up if he wants a few lessons.”
“Aria,” Mikhail warns.
I blow out a breath. “Fine. I’ll play nice. Go ahead, go soothe his ego while I get the real work done.”
“Behave yourself,” he warns as the door shuts behind him.
I quickly forget his admonition and my nausea and fears when I open up the laptop and come alive. This is where I shine.
I happily tap away, secure that I’m not being watched by anyone but him because of his excellent firewall and setup. It cost big bucks to get me this souped-up laptop, but it’s a rounding error for him. Mere pocket change. My fingers dance over the keyboard so I can secure this shipment in time.
No one dicks around with my husband.
“One more…there we go…yeppers.” Boom.
The digital access to border security appears on the screen. A wave of nausea hits me, and I automatically grab a square of toast and sip the tea he left me. Oh, nice. Spicy and a little sweet. Ginger?
“There we go, suckers,” I say gleefully to myself. “That didn’t take long at all. You guys really need to up your game.”
Right in front of me I have access to everything — security cameras and electronic locks, a list of all imports and exports and addresses for where they’re going. Personnel names and shifts.
Perfect.
Evil genius mode.
Who knew he had a sense of humor?
I smile to myself when another wave of nausea hits.
I absentmindedly eat the food and drink the tea until it’s gone while I navigate my way around as if I belong here.
“There we go. Come to mama, baby,” I whisper, as I navigate through the layers of safety protocols with ease.
Firewalls and encryption barriers? Zing.
See ya. I screw my face up in concentration as I look from one thing to the next.
Surveillance cameras are going down first. My fingers fly over the keyboard as I look for any hole in their armor, a vulnerable entryway for me to get into their camera systems and make sure I—
“Oooh, yeah,” I say, like a teen furiously killing aliens in a game. “Pew, pew, pew!” I take them out one at a time.
I don’t have audio access to the main guard station but can see the looks of consternation on their faces.
That’s right, boys. What happened to your little security cameras?
I happened to them. That’s what you get for fucking around with my husband.
If Mikhail Romanov wants to auction expensive, rare artwork so he looks like a philanthropist? That’s what he does.
While they’re likely occupied bringing the cameras back online for everything that’s literally right in front of their faces, I move toward the electronic lock system.
Plink.
Plink.
Plink.
It’s easy enough to do this remotely, as well.
Next up, I override their internal texting system and have a little fun.
I give one of them the day off. Tell the second there’s been a mistake and all held cargo will move ahead double speed because they were delayed.
And the third’s sent to do some busywork sweeping a holding cell near the main office.
“You didn’t even hear me come in.”
I nearly jump out of my skin to see Mikhail and Aleks standing in the doorway. Aleks, his hands shoved in his pockets, jerks his chin at me in greeting. He doesn’t dare mistreat me in front of his brother, but I know he’s seething below the surface.
“I was concentrating. Maybe you could knock or something to pull me out of evil genius mode.”
Mikhail gestures toward his phone and narrows his eyes, a warning to watch my tone of voice. I shiver, suddenly aware of how hot he looks when he’s staring at me like that.
“I could. Or you could answer your phone.”
I swallow and nod. Yep. Yes, I could.