Page 124 of Undeniably Corrupt

“Me? Are you fucking insane? Who does shit like this, Liora? Who seeks out someone who threatens them?”

“You told me he was FBI! I thought he was. I came here to protect you.”

“Oh, Angel, you are in so much trouble.”

She rolls her eyes. “I’m not the one in trouble. He’s going to kill you. He just said that.” She shoves me back. “You can’t be here. Go!”

“He’s not going to hurt me, baby,” I tell her, wrapping my arm around her waist and yanking her to my side. “Are you, Agent Shien?”

“What?” Liora cries, her head flipping back and forth between us. “Agent? But you just said?—”

“FBI, criminal investigation division. I told you this morning he was.”

“Yes, but he just put up a whole lot of pretenses to the contrary.”

Liora is trembling so badly I think her knees are about to give out on her, and I hold her tighter to me.

Shien tilts his head, but he doesn’t look surprised that I know he’s FBI or annoyed that I told Liora. He wanted me to figure it out. It’s why he showed up as a fake FBI agent and gave me that bogus name. It’s why he dropped the bomb about my hacking and what I was arrested for and did it again with Liora this morning. He’s known who I am and what I’m capable of all along. And he wanted me to act on it before he’d own up to anything.

The FBI hit a wall in their investigation and needed a hacker.

“I take it no one else could gain the access to Corbin James you were after,” I surmise.

He gives me a look. “Sometimes things fall into place when you need them to." He glances at Liora. “As you said, your father reads your mother’s texts. That’s how he knew you were working for Vander and Monroe Securities. He didn’t like it. Actually, he was enraged about it.” His gaze swings to me. “He said he should have killed you years ago when he had the chance. We’d been stalled out of his systems. We were in some things, but not in enough of others. I volunteered to come here and feel things out and if necessary, send you both a message.”

“I never told my mother I moved in with him, though.”

He shrugs. “I did. I needed him to keep me here.”

Liora covers her face with her hands and laughs into them. “Jesus Christ. This is just… this is just insane.” Her hands fall to her thighs with a smack. “Okay. Now what?”

“Now Vander gives me what he has, and the FBI takes it from here.”

I shake my head. “Nice try, but no dice. I’m not giving you anything and incriminating myself or keeping Liora, Hazel, or her mother in any danger while you build your case.”

“I could arrest you now.”

“But you won’t,” I counter. “You need what I found on his computer, his password-protected files, and if you arrest me, you won’t get them. Not ever.”

“We don’t exactly have a lot of time. He went on a rampage tonight. He wants you dead before midnight.” He points at me.

“Then I guess you better start making deals, Agent,” Liora comments dryly, and I do my best to hold in my amusement. “Because I’m positive you’re going to want what I know as well, which is more than a little hearsay, and I won’t give you anything if you don’t offer Vander full immunity. I mean, we are helping you.”

“And I’m saving your lives.”

“Babe, I’ve been living on this side of my father’s crazy and evil for a long time now. You’re not scaring me.”

I choke on a laugh but shrug. “You heard the lady.”

With a long, stern look, Shien turns and walks off, pulling his phone from his pocket. Likely to make a call and get this done. But the moment he’s out of earshot, I twist my little angel around, smack her ass hard with one hand, and tug her hair back with the other so I can kiss her.

“What the absolute fuck were you thinking?” I snarl against her lips. “First, this isn’t what we talked about doing. Second, do you have any fucking clue how dangerous what you did was? I told you I was going to handle it.” I bite her lip in frustration and relief.

“And you would have been dead by midnight.” She bites mine back.

“Obviously not since he’s FBI. Where’s Hazel?”

“With Katy.”