Page 51 of Protecting You
Father, help me know how to handle this. I need words and wisdom now so I don’t give away that I know who he is.
She found a drop-down menu, clicked to the About page, and read a short history of the security business and the names of its founders.
A quick perusal told her what she’d already guessed. “I don’t see your name here.”
“I like to keep a low profile. Those are the people who run the company. I am an owner.”
“Hmm. The thing is”—she turned to face him—“for all I know, you’re asking me to hack into a rival’s company in order to do damage or glean proprietary information.”
She wasn’t sure what she expected. Feigned shock or insult? Defensiveness? Anger?
She definitely didn’t expect the way he settled back against the chair, comfortable as could be. “It seems to me that your best course of action right now would be to trust me. We both know you’re going to do this job for me—you’ve already agreed. And I’ve already transferred a sizable amount of money into your bank account.”
What did he mean bysizable?She reached for her phone to check her bank balance, but the driver hadn’t given it back.
“We hadn’t come to terms on this job yet.”
“You won’t be disappointed.”
“I already told you”—she gestured to the center screen—“I won’t do anything illegal.”
He smiled. “Of course not, Alyssa. I would never ask you to. This is a standard job. You look for open doors and show me where you found them so my team can close them up.”
He was lying. She knew he was lying. He knew she knew he was lying. And yet…
And yet, he was convinced he had her. He’d put money into her account. She was here—and her fiancé was too. From his perspective, she was trapped.
She could refuse, find Callan, and walk away. Theoretically, she could contact the authorities and tell them everything.
He would deny it, of course.
Leave the country.
And disappear, which he’d done often enough, according to Michael.
But would he do that before exacting revenge on her? Doubtful.
More to the point, would he let her leave before she completed the task? Certainly not.
He was betting she would do as he demanded.
She looked past him, out the leaded windows that distorted the world beyond. “He can never know.” She met Charles’s eyes. “Caleb wouldn’t understand. And my family… You would have no way of knowing this, but my father spent years in intelligence. It’s critical that nobody ever finds out.”
“You have no reason to fear me, Alyssa. You will keep quiet about what you did, and I will certainly never tell a soul.”
“That means you have to let Caleb do whatever he needs to do. He brought his laptop, and he needs to work. You’ll let him work, right? Otherwise, he’s going to get suspicious.”
“My security people will look at his laptop. As long as they find nothing concerning, he’ll be free to work.”
“And our phones?”
“Yes, yes.” He brushed off her question. “When you’re finished with this—and when you’ve found the name of the Russian. How long do you think it will take?”
“Too soon to tell. I’ll let you know if I need anything.”
His lips quirked at the corners as if he found her dismissal amusing.
She focused on the website and got to work, ignoring Charles’s presence beside her.
