Page 111 of Hacking His Code

I’m rendered speechless, and although fury still rages within me, it has slightly less of an edge.

My father’s phone blares an alarm. He picks it up, looking at his screen in confusion.

My eyes narrow. “What is it?”

“Someone’s trying to hack our in-house hacking programs. They input something weird when trying to get into one of the platforms. Something that makes no sense.”

“What?” Remi says.

“ChickenDinner,” Father replies.

“That’s Ari!”

“It looks like she attempted to access the program a second time, and she was successful.”

“She’s leaving a trail of breadcrumbs,” Gabriel says. “Smart girl.”

For once, Father looks hopeful. “Whoever took her must know that she’s a hacker. They’re trying to get her to find the program.”

“How can we use that to our advantage?” Remi says.

Father’s fingers fly over his keyboard again. “Give me a minute.”

I wait with bated breath as my father works his magic, and after a long minute, he breathes out a heavy breath.

“We need to leave this blank file where she can easily find it. It looks innocent enough, but it has a GPS locator woven into it, one that’s hard to detect. All she has to do is open it, and it will alert us to her location.”

“Brilliant!” Gabriel enthuses.

“Label the file Winner,” I say. “She’ll know what that means.”

“Done,” Father says. “Now to place the file.”

After a couple taps of the keyboard, he turns to look at me. “I’ve already put in a request to Snake. He and his men are on the roof, waiting for orders. Once Ari opens the file, they’ll go straight to her location.”

“I’m going too!” I insist.

“Fine, just give me a few minutes,” he says as he returns to his keyboard. “When you’re close, I’m going to forward the program I’m working on to her captor. Hopefully, they’ll open the file right away and forward it on to whoever they’re working with, and you’ll never be bothered again.”

My heart aches for my father, but this was his choice, and I’m glad it’s one he’s willing to make. Ari is innocent, as is our child. She deserves to live her life free from fear and harm.

“I’m contacting a friend at the FBI,” Gabriel says. “When this comes to light, you’re going to need people on your side, and this man can pull some strings.”

“Fine,” Father says, then looks to me. “Do you have a picture of Ari I can send to Snake? He needs to know who he’s going in for?”

“Just tell him it’s the same woman he collected for me nearly a month ago.”

Father blinks, clearly confused.

“Unfortunately, this isn’t the first time I’ve gotten Ari kidnapped, but she’s forgiven me for the first.”

“Jesus fucking Christ—tell me you’re joking,” Father says in disbelief.

“Afraid not.”

He shakes his head. “Just sit tight. I’ll have the program ready shortly.”

Arinessa