Yet.
Please, fuck, let there be an expiration date on when I couldn’t press my mouth to hers—
“I started it with two other hackers after I got away from the Sparrows. I needed to find someone, and they helped me.”
“Theyhelpedyou?”
“With the amount of time I was out of action, I was slow,” she admitted. “I needed some help getting back into the swing of things. You know how quickly our world moves, and if you’re slow, you lose.”
“Who did you need to find?”
“A man helped me when I was in Lebanon. He almost got killed for his troubles.” She shoved more of the croissant between her lips. “You probably know him. His name’s Hunter Lachlan.”
“The Camorran Don. Met him at his niece’s christening.”
Her brows rose. “Niece?”
“He’s married to Aurora Valentini now.”
A smile danced on her lips. “So, the old bastard made it happen.”
“Who’s the old bastard?”
She wafted a hand. “It doesn’t matter. I’m glad for Hunter though. He’s been pining for Aurora since they were kids. What did you talk about with him?”
“You, of course. I wanted to know if he’d heard from you.”
Her nose crinkled. “I burned that bridge.”
“Why?”
“To save him.”
I shook my head. “You’re the most complicated woman alive, Lodestar.”
“Do you know you call me Lodestar when you’re being pissy with me?”
“You answer to both, don’t you?”
“I do.”
“So what’s the problem then?”
“Nothing. I’m just onto you, that’s all.”
I rolled my eyes. “Okay, so Lachlan was the reason you needed help back then.”
“I had to know if he survived. It… I used to think about that time and it would give me nightmares.” She cleared her throat and tossed the croissant back on the table.
“You don’t have to tell me what happened.”
“I don’t think I could,” she said rawly, her gaze low. “Minerva and Ovianar are the other leaders of BDSec.”
The memory had to be bad if she was getting back on track. “Not sure I’ve heard of Ovianar,” I admitted.
“That’s exactly how she likes it,” she mocked.
“Minerva—didn’t she hack the Senate’s power grid when they were going to vote to let oil companies drill in Alaska?”