Her beautiful eyes held his in an inscrutable stare.
He shifted on his feet.
“Why were you in jail?”
“I… I,” Wes fumbled his words.
“Everyone seems to know about it except me. You’ve seen me naked.” She waved a hand down her body. “Or close enough. Let’s put it all out there. Get naked, Wes.”
Wes felt like he couldn’t breathe.
“You asked what you could do. This is it. Let’s lay it all out on the table. No more secrets.” Her tone was defiant, but he could still hear the hurt underneath.
The room wasn’t large, but it felt like a gulf had opened between them.
“I hacked into my college’s computer system.”
“That can’t be all,” she challenged, and Wes sighed.
“I had a scholarship that covered all the basics. But there was no extra living stipend. At first, I tried to work to cover the other costs, but Tech is hard, and my grades were slipping. Which meant I was at risk of losing my scholarship. On top of that, my computer broke, and it didn’t matter what I did. I couldn’t pay my mounting credit card debt.”
Her eyes flickered.
“I needed a way to make money, and honestly, my skill was hacking. It started with our study group, getting early copies of tests. Then, it just kind of spread through word of mouth.”
Wes hated sharing how he had struggled. How sometimes he went without eating because the dining hall hours didn’t always line up with his classes. He stopped running for a while because he had worn holes in his shoes and couldn’t afford to buy new ones. At eighteen, you are aged out of the foster care system. Wes was one of the lucky ones. He had skills that gave him opportunities, but it wasn’t a comfortable life.
“I sold tests.” He shrugged. “Then I realized I could make more money changing grades. I got greedy and changed too many, too fast. It alerted the university that something was wrong. They hired their own specialist to trace the breach.” Wes huffed a laugh. “I was young and arrogant. I used my computer in my dorm room. It was easy for them to trace the IP.”
Cara chewed her lip. “You were arrested? Were the charges serious?”
Wes walked into the kitchen and opened a beer, as memories flooded in.
It had been awful. The police came into the lecture hall, and he was handcuffed in front of the entire class. He’d never forget the terrified look on Jin’s face—the fear his was the next name they would call. Because, of course, his roommate knew what he was doing. Jin helped Wes do it.
“The university wanted to make an example of me. After all, it was a school full of computer and math geniuses. They wanted to make sure it didn’t happen again. Ten felonies. Nineteen years old and my life was over.”
He gulped the beer, but it tasted sour.
“Oh my god,” Cara breathed.
“So, you see, I know all about making a catastrophic mistake when you’re young.”
“You must have been terrified. I had a family…” her voice cracked.
“Yeah, it was bad.” Wes made sure he kept his voice neutral. “I pleaded guilty. There was no way I was getting out of the charges. I wasn’t exactly a criminal genius covering my tracks. My public defender said I might get a more lenient sentence if I saved the state a trial.”
“It must have worked. You’re here. Now.”
He shook his head. “I was facing twenty years.”
Wrinkles creased her forehead. “But?”
“I was in county, awaiting my sentencing, when I had a visit from a government agency. I was promised probation and time served if I agreed to a seven-year contract with them.” His lips twisted.
“Why? What agency?”
His smile stretched. “Let’s say it was a ‘lettered agency’ and leave it at that. I told you. I am very good at what I do. They wanted me to work for them—cyberterrorism.” He held his hands out. “But that’s all I can say.”
