Page 88 of Ruin My Life

“I let my guard down once before and you know how that ended,” I add, voice quiet but full of steel. “Iwon’tdo it again.”

He exhales slowly. His expression softens just slightly—enough that I know he understands exactly what I’m talking about. We both know the consequences of dropping our guard, even for a second.

But he still doesn’t let me off the hook that easy.

“Having her that close is dangerous,” Monroe mutters. “For all of us. All it takes is one wrong move, one emotional misstep, and we lose everything.”

Guilt churns in my gut like old poison.

Monroe and I both wear our guilt like dog tags. Around the neck. Right over the heart.

I reach out, grabbing the back of his neck, and press my forehead to his.

“I know,” I murmur. “I won’t let that happen. We find the bastard who’s behind this... and we end it.”

I pull back.

“You with me?”

Monroe holds my gaze, silent as stone.

Then he nods once, slow and solid. “Always.”

Connor claps both of us on the back, loud and obnoxious as usual. “Finally, the boys are done fighting.”

Monroe glares at him, but Connor just grins wider.

Then his expression sobers. “Now that the bromance is over,” Connor says, “can we talk about the how someonehackedour goddamn cameras?”

“That’s the golden question,” Lee murmurs, already typing furiously at his computer.

I move over to him, glancing at the open King’s Eye server logs. He’s tracking every data access point, every line of code. I can read it, given some time to focus, but Lee sees it like a second language—he’s fluent, fast, and precise.

“In theory, it’s not impossible to hack the security system,” Lee says. “It’s just... hard.Reallyhard.”

“But someone did it,” I mutter.

He nods. “Whoever they were, they bypassed our usual login access points. They didn’t target a user account. They targeted the server itself.”

Monroe’s brows furrow. “So they didn’t need credentials?”

“They broke through the back end,” Lee confirms. “No alerts. No traceable IP. They knew exactly what they were doing.”

“You got anything useful yet?” I ask, scanning the screen.

Lee shakes his head, clearly frustrated. “Not yet. I’m still trying to trace the vulnerability they used, but so far... nothing. I’m sorry.”

I pat his shoulder. “Not your fault. We’re obviously dealing with a pro—a dangerous one at that.”

Connor lets out a low whistle. “Myquestion is—if this is the same asshole who hired Brianna to hack your personal systems... whyhireher at all? Why not do it themselves?”

Monroe crosses his arms, brow creased in thought. “Unless they wanted her to be the trail we followed. Distractus so he could get in without any of us catching on right away?”

That thought makes my hands curl into fists.

It’s one thing to go after me. I expect that. But to manipulateher—to use her as bait. A tool. A fucking scapegoat...

That’s a different kind of danger.