Page 42 of Undeniably Corrupt

Her eyes narrowed, and I couldn’t help my small chuckle.

I squeezed her pinky. “It’s not like that. I swear. I’ll wait for that forever or until you promise you’re ready, which I know you’re not. Ijust want to spend time alone with you. Watch a movie together. Sleep next to you. Kiss you a lot. That’s all.”

“That’s not how you’ve done it before,” she challenged.

“You’re different. You’re the one I want for more than just the physical stuff.” I stared deeply into the blue eyes I could get lost in and never wanted to be found and told her a truth I’d hardly begun to swallow for myself. “Liora, you’re just the one I want.”

My mind clears as I pull into my driveway and park. For a moment, I simply sit here, staring at the unattached garage at the back of my driveway. I was only a teenager, but in thinking back on things now… there’s a lot that I missed. A lot Cass never told me.

I had tunnel vision.Liora, Liora, Liora. MIT too, but while I was in Lavender Lake, it was all her. There’s been no point in my life when I’ve been able to hold back or resist her.

It’s as she said. I’m obsessed. Addicted. I always have been. I crave her. She’s every good and bad thought I have, and with that, I’m in danger. I know it. It’s not just my life on the line anymore. She’s thrown my heart back into the game as well. And what happens if I allow myself to fall for her again?

I’m a mess with it. I don’t know which end is up. Instead of going inside, I turn in the opposite way and go for a run. My neighborhood is quiet, dark, and peaceful. A rare thing to find this close to the city and not one I take for granted.

My feet pound the pavement while sweat drips down my forehead and neck. Something has been eating at me, and maybe that explains my preoccupation with her.

I slip my AirPods into my ears and dial up my father.

“Vander?” He picks up on the third ring, a little confused to be hearing from me on a work night. Usually we chat through encrypted texts, but this requires a phone call.

“Hey, Dad. I need to ask you a few things.”

“Sure.”

I slow my run to a walk, but I don’t turn back toward home.Not yet. “Do you remember my high school girlfriend, Liora James?”

“You mean the girl you just hired to take over for Champagne?”

I smirk. God, my mother loves to talk.

“Yes. Tell me what you know about her father. About her family.”

“Honestly? Not a lot other than her father owns James Architecture and Engineering and the James Automotive Group.” He clears his throat. “He’s very successful at both, and I’ve never heard a bad word said about him. He’s all smiles and waves whenever he’s in town, though he never liked me much and, as I recall, never liked you a whole lot either. Have you checked into them? Into her?”

I drag a hand up my face and through my damp hair. “Not really, no. My friends told me I can’t dig too much into her.”

He chuckles. “How come?”

“They told me it would be stalking, and I listened. They were right, and I was already…” I huff. “Too preoccupied. I’d already overstepped and taken liberties with her I shouldn’t have. But on Monday a fake FBI agent showed up at my door asking about things he shouldn’t know.”

“Explain that.”

“He called himself Agent Vincent Vega, which to anyone is almost nuts. It’s an automatic,that’s a fake-as-fuck nameandget the fuck out of my office. But then he started asking questions and mentioning things about my past.”

He falls quiet. “What about your past?”

“What I was arrested for. He brought it up and asked if I was still hacking.”

“That’s not public information. We had your arrest wiped along with the accusations against you.”

I close my eyes. He’s right. We did that. Shit. So how could he have known?

“Liora was the reason he was there. I know it. He was dicking around, asking about me, and then he homed in on her and didn’t stop. He asked if the reason I hired her is because she’s my ex-girlfriend. How could he know that, Dad? How could this guy possibly know that? Or about my arrest?”

“He’s working with or for someone who does, or Liora is part of this.”

I rub my hand over my sweaty forehead. “No one knew except for my people.” I stare down at the sidewalk, sweat dripping onto the concrete creating black dots. “I really don’t want to think that about her.” But it’s difficult not to.