Nico Valdiviesio had chipped away at her carefully constructed exterior.
Damen Castillo was forcing his way inside.
She didn’t have any real leverage here. Even if she kept her mouth shut until they landed in New York and then Jude arrived…there was no way in hell Damen Castillo was letting her walk off this plane with her laptop.
Unless she could prove to him that what he wanted didn’t exist.
As they still gazed into each other’s eyes, she told him, “I resent the hell out of you for making me do this.”
“I resent the hell out of the fact that I have to do it.”
His reply surprised her. Caught her off guard.
He added, “I don’t want to believe you and Garcia cooked something up.”
“Then why are you so convinced we did?”
He drew in a deep breath. Nikki leaned closer.
“What?” she insistently queried.
“The device has a built-in tracking system.” He didn’t break the eye contact as he reached for the phone in his pocket. With his thumb, he tapped out his passcode and then showed her the screen. “That’s our plane, headed to New York. That red beckon—headed to New York—is the device. It’s inserted in your laptop.”
“No, Damen. That can’t be. I would know…”
“Not necessarily. It’ll lay flush against the frame of your computer. Unless you wanted to use the port or ran your finger alongside it, you likely wouldn’t even notice it was inserted.”
She swallowed hard. “Terrorist info aside, Damen…” She felt a shudder through her. Her stomach clenched. Her breath caught.
“What, Nikki?” he muttered.
“Can this dongle export information?”
His head jerked back slightly. “Fuck.”
“Can it?” she quietly demanded.
“No. Not at all. That’s not… Shit. Don’t worry about us extracting your private moments with… Goddamn it, Nikki.” He shoved his phone back into his pocket. Then his fingertips grazed her temple. “Let me check for the device first. Just…let me check, okay?”
“And what if you find something?” she challenged. “Are you going to immediately assume I know about this? Because, Damen… I don’t.”
“There is another loophole. But you have to let me see your computer, Nikki.”
She hedged. Her pulse echoed in her ears and her heart twisted in her chest.
Jesus…
She wanted to say no, but… What choice did she really have here? He was getting his hands on her computer either way. At least if she let him see it now, it’d still be within her sight.
She reached for her bag with trembling fingers. More tears stung the backs of her eyes.
As she handed over her laptop, she said, “You know I hate you for this, right?”
He leaned close to her again. Regret and remorse flitted over his chiseled face as he murmured, “I hate me for this, too.”
She searched his eyes for any sort of mocking. She didn’t find it. He truly looked repentant. Because…he knew. If he’d created a dossier on her, then he knew about Conner.
Thus… He actually did comprehend how painful this was for her.