Page 5 of Beautifully Ruined

But he never raised a blip on The Ghost’s radar.

If I looked into him properly, would he have?

And is that the fate I’ve handed to the girl I’ve fallen hard for?

I want to speak to her, hear her voice, make sure she’s alive. I want to see her to make sure she isn’t hurt. I want to hold her for my own wellbeing and to try to protect her.

She’s got to be alive. She’s the leverage he has over me.

But I’m in no position to demand proof of life, so I have to just fucking believe it.

The alternative makes me sick. The alternative is incomprehensible.

I’m furious at myself for not being more careful.

I should have kept away.

I should have looked into Isaac deeper that first time. And I should have absolutely found the connection between Isaac and Andronski before Ivan found me.

If anything happens to Vi, I’ll never forgive myself.

Ivan growls from behind me. “Hurry the fuck up.”

“We can’t rush these things.” I don’t want to be a smart ass, but what I’m doing is insanely difficult.

I’m laying a lie, I’m laying the tracks for Enzo, and I’m covering one so deep that no one but Enzo will see it. And I’m laying another so the hacker can see it when I’m done. And…I’m also stealing millions of dollars from a ruthless client and making sure no one on that end can identify my work.

All that, and I’m in agony.

Mentally and physically.

But the work is finally done. The transfer takes a few minutes.

When that is done too, I spin in the chair, moving it away with my feet as the Russian hacker swoops in to check.

He nods. “It’s through.”

I look at Andronski. “We had a deal. And knowing you, I’m going to assume you’re not letting me go. But let her go.”

Ivan laughs and shakes his head. “No one’s going anywhere.”

“Let her go.”

“You don’t have any leverage. You’ve nothing to barter with. You can live a little longer because I need you to get me everything Isaac owed me.”

“And then?”

“You die.” He grins, stroking his beard with a bejeweled hand. “Unless you impress me.”

I lean forward. “You want to be impressed? How about this? I just set up the transfer in a way that the cops will be alerted in exactly sixty minutes unless I manually disable that request.”

His eyes move to the hacker.

The hacker gets on the computer and twenty seconds later, he turns to Ivan. “He’s telling the truth.”

Ivan leaps up. “Dismantle it!”

The Russian hacker works frantically, but he finally shakes his head. “I can’t.”