Icouldstilltasteher as I rode the elevator up to the third floor of Ethereal. I smiled as I thought about how fucking beautiful she was when she came on my tongue. My cock ached and I had the worst case of blue balls in the history of man, but it was worth it because it made my girl so damn happy.
My girl.
Wasn’t exactly the truth but she wasn’t anyone else’s either. If I had my way, she would be mine. Someday she would be–as soon as I got Dante out of the way and told Dad about Lauren. I was done with her and I didn’t give a shit if it cost us the deal with Arlington.
While Dani planned the revenge on Lauren sans violence, because according to her, while what she did was manipulative, it wasn’t deserving of a physical punishment, I was preparing to nail Dante with proof of his backstabbing and betrayal. I had the thumb drive in my pocket, loaded and ready to be planted on his computer. He wasoutfor the evening according to the shared schedule we used to track each other’s whereabouts, so that gave me some time to snoop in his office, plant the software, and be on my way.
“I get it–you made up. Stop smiling. It’s creeping me out,” Theo said with a smirk. He was the only guy I could trust to have my back, so I made him come with me to keep an eye on the cameras while I was in Dante’s office. He was going to be a lookout–just in case–and text me to get the fuck out of there if he showed up.
Hopefully I wouldn’t need his help, but I couldn’t sleep when it came to Dante. If he did try and have my brother killed, he sure as fuck wouldn’t hesitate to kill me.
“Can’t help it,” I shrugged. The elevator dinged and we stepped out, heading down the hallway. “You can stay in Dani’s room to watch the cameras. Dom isn’t around so it’ll be empty.”
“This place is badass,” Theo said as he looked around the apartment, making himself comfortable in the living room. “When am I getting hired so I can stay in one of these?”
“Let’s see how well you do tonight,” I joked. Someday I would need to get serious about picking a second-in-command, and Theo was the most trustworthy man I knew. I had a hard time wanting to involve him in my family’s bullshit though.
“You know I’m ready for it. It beats going to college.”
“I’m still going to college,” I said as I leveled him with a hard glare. “And so are you. Let’s get this moving so I can get it over with.”
After Theo was set up with my tablet, able to switch between all the camera feeds on the third floor, I gave him one last warning before going to Dante’s office.Text me if you see movement in the hallway, even if it’s someone from our security team.
It was unfortunate I couldn’t trust anyone, but that was the way it was sometimes. Once Dante was taken care of, we’d need to investigate our entire team and flush anyone who was Team Dante–hopefully that meant keeping people like Quentin, Henry, Dominic, and Xavier. It would crush Dani to learn that her brother was on her dad’s side. Something in my bones told me Dom would have his sister’s back over Dante’s.
The office door clicked as I unlocked it with my spare key and peeked my head around. The room was empty but the light on the desk was on. I flicked on the overhead lights as I closed the door behind me and flipped the lock.
I went around the desk and smiled at the laptop he’d left behind. Idiot thought he was so smart using outdated technology.The Feds can’t track you on this old shit, he had said. The laptop was more like a paperweight–it had to be at least fifteen years old. It was password protected, but since it used an old operating system, I knew the workaround to boot it up in admin mode which bypassed the password requirement entirely.
The guy shouldnothave access to our files if he was going to be this stupid with his own computer.
Once it loaded–slowly, because it was a fucking dinosaur–I inserted the thumb drive. A window popped open with a logo of a skull and roses–pffft–I double-clicked it and let it rip. Another window popped up with a progress bar. And it was slow. After a minute of waiting, I decided to poke around his desk.
Did I think he would leave a paper trail of incriminating evidence laying around for anyone to find? No, but I also didn’t think the second-in-command of a ruthless underground leader would think using an old laptop would prevent file theft and malware infection.
There was nothing interesting in the filing cabinet–just a bunch of financial records for the club. Why this shit wasn’t done electronically, I have no idea. That’d be something to bring up with Dad.
I looked at the progress bar and it was hanging around fifty percent. At this rate, I’d be here until midnight. I was antsy to get home to the bombshell in my bed.
I smiled as I checked the camera feed in my room. Dani was curled up on my bed, reading something smutty on her Kindle. I shot her a text to remind her I was watching.
Me: You look so fucking sexy on my bed. I can’t wait to rip those sweatpants off you later.
I swapped back to the camera feed and she looked at her phone and laughed, making me smile like a giddy idiot.
Dani: Guys aren’t the only ones who can pull off the gray sweatpants look. ;)
As I went to respond, my phone buzzed with another text–this one from Theo.Shit.
Theo: He’s here.
Theo: He’s coming. Get out of there!
My stomach dropped as I checked the progress of the virus–ninety eight percent. My phone kept buzzing, so I turned it to silent and shoved it in my pocket. My eyes flew from the computer to the door, back to the computer.
Come on, you fucking prehistoric piece of sh–
The software completed the installation and I yanked the thumb drive from the computer, stuffing it in my pocket and slamming the laptop shut before I darted for the closet. Just as I shut the door, I heard Dante yelling into his cell phone on the other side of the wall.