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“Abort. Please.” I said it louder this time, trying to keep the panic out of my voice.

“Why?” Elvis’s face scrunched up in confusion. “The security software has no idea we’re inside. We’re just fighting with another hacker who wants the information for himself. We can beat him. We don’t want to let him get there first. It puts Slash at further risk.”

“Elvis, it’s Slash on the other side.” My nerves, stretched to the breaking point, were causing queasy twitches in my stomach. “He doesn’t want me to see what’s in there. He knows if we’re determined he can’t keep all three of us out at the same time, especially when we’re using the same back door. He can’t shut that down permanently or he shuts himself out, too. He also knows he can’t do too much or he’ll alert the authorities and jeopardize the back door. But he’s still trying anyway, hoping we will quit.” I couldn’t believe I was saying this. How had it come to this—Slash and I on opposing sides? We were actively working against each other, like enemies. The queasiness in my stomach was turning into full-fledged nausea.

Elvis was as floored by the situation as I was, color rising in his cheeks. “Are you kidding me? We’re hacking against Slash? Why the hell would he try to stop us? I thought you were trying to help him.”

“I am. It’s complicated.” How could I explain it to Elvis when I was just working it out myself?

“Lexi, does he know it’s you?” Xavier asked.

“I think so.”

“And he’s still blocking you?” Elvis asked, his voice incredulous. “What’s going on with you two?”

My throat was so tight, I could barely squeak out the words. “I think he’s protecting me.”

For a moment, Elvis stared at me and then shook his head. “That’s not cool. Not cool at all.” Then he turned, tapped something on the keyboard and stood up. “I sure hope you know what you’re doing.”

I didn’t.

Without another word, he turned and left the room. I let him go. I couldn’t deal with his feelings when I was still fighting my own.

“Okay. I’m closing up,” Xavier said, his hands busy on the keyboard. “At least it was Slash coming in through our back door and not someone else. Guess I must have mentioned it to him before. That guy has a mind like a steel trap.”

As he shut down, I sat in front of my laptop, staring blankly at the screen. I felt sick.

Xavier stood, flexed and shook out his hands. “Don’t worry, Lexi. Everything will work out.” As he walked past, he put his hand on my shoulder, letting the solid weight linger for a moment. He didn’t ask what was going on with Slash and me or why I’d made the decision I had. I suppose neither mattered at this point.

Xavier disappeared into the kitchen, and I heard a door open and close. He’d gone out to the back porch, presumably to find Basia.

I glanced up when I heard a shuffling noise. Gwen. I’d forgotten she was still here. She looked at me sympathetically. “Lexi, are you okay?”

Was she kidding? I’d just had a serious hack-off against my fiancé. We’d been officially on opposing sides, working hard to thwart each other. It wasn’t a drill. It wasn’t a game. We’d been aggressive opponents, fighting a brutal, virtual duel against each other.

How had this happened to us?

“No, I’m not okay,” I admitted. “I just hacked against the man I love. He shut me out, and I let him.”

“Why?” she asked. Her question was innocent and concerned, and it helped me focus.

“I don’t know, Gwen. I think he’s afraid of losing me. Whatever is in those files, he must have known I’d come after them, and that’s why he set a trap...why he was waiting for me.” The fact that he’d planned the tripwire and trap in advance, knowing I’d come for them, hurt more than I could articulate.

I held up my left hand where the blue diamond in my engagement ring sparkled. “It doesn’t make sense. Why is he fighting me so hard on this? We’re committed to spending the rest of our lives together. He’s not going to lose me because of what’s in a file.”

I wouldn’t let that happen.

Gwen’s voice softened. “I think what’s important is that you loved him enough to stop the hack. You stopped it because you were protecting Slash, just like he was protecting you. That’s what people who really love each other do. They stick together. They figure it out. I know you will.”

Sudden clarity descended on me and I abruptly stood. “Gwen, you’re absolutely right.” I knew exactly what I had to do.

I shoved my laptop into my bag. “Tell Elvis and Xavier I’m sorry I wasted their time. I’ll make it up to them. I promise.”

Alarm crossed her face. “Of course, I’ll tell them. But Lexi...what are you doing?”

I added the power cord to my bag and zipped it up. I slung it over my shoulder, my voice steady, my mind made up.

“Doing what I should have done in the first place. I’m going to Italy.”