Page 63 of Undeniably Corrupt

I give her a wiggly finger wave that might have a bit more of my middle involved and turn back to the door. I listen for her heels clicking and clacking their way out, and once I’m sure she’s gone, I bang on his door again. Then I try the handle, but obviously it’s not budging.

Something inside me snaps. Maybe it’s the stress of the past week, maybe it’s the fact that I’ve barely seen him since Hazel and I moved in. Whatever it is, I pound on the door with the flat of my palm. “Vander Moore! Unless you’re actually dead in there, you need to open this door right now or so help me God, I will knock it the fuck down and kick your ass.”

The door flies open so suddenly that I nearly fall backward. Vander fills the doorway, all six-foot-four of him wearing a black T-shirt and jeans with shoulders that seem specifically designed to block entry and arms filled with colorful tattoos I wish I had a moment to analyze. His green eyes encased in clear, gray-framed glasses could freeze lava for how coldly he glares at me, his annoyance at my pounding on his door evident. His blond hair stands up in places like he’s been running his hands through it, and he’s got several layers of beard going on.

Or perhaps he was asleep if his disheveled appearance and purple stains beneath his eyes are anything to go by.

“What are you doing out here banging on my door?”

Wow. He seriously wants to die. “Did you not hear anything I just said or read any of my texts?” I grit out, ready to strangle him.

“No. What’s going on?” He scrubs a hand up his face. “I fell asleep.”

With an aggravated sigh, I repeat everything.

“Shit. Again?” Frustration flickers in his eyes. “Dumb motherfuckers clicking links they shouldn’t.”

“He said the email looked legit.”

He rolls his eyes. “I’m sure it did. Do you know how many times we’ve given presentations specifically to them on social engineering? Never click a link from an email.”

“Ever?”

“In their case? Yes.” The door slams shut behind him, and he’s already moving past me, his shoulder brushing mine since I didn’t move out of his way fast enough. “Their last ransomware was for twenty million. They’re lucky I was able to get the guy and stop it.”

He grumbles that last part under his breath, but I hear it anyway and blink, taken aback. “How’d you do that?”

He throws his head over his shoulder but quickly turns back as he gets to his desk.

I stand helplessly as he logs in and starts typing things I can’t understand at a million miles a minute. It’s in code or something, and his screen isn’t like any screen I’ve seen before.

And it hits me. Hard. Like a bullet.

Vander is a hacker.

Not just a cybersecurity CEO or a genius in his field. It’s how he knows things he shouldn’t. Things I’ve never told him. It’s how he got that actor at the club. It’s what he does when he locks himself away for hours on end.

A shudder runs through me. What else does he know?

“Why are you still standing there?” he growls, snapping me out of my spiraling thoughts.

“What do you need me to do?”

He pushes up the bridge of his glasses. “Call their CEO back and tell him not to touch anything else. Don’t let anyone log into any other systems. In fact, tell them to log out of everything right now if he hasn’t already.”

“Okay. I’ll call him. What about your meeting?”

Vander’s jaw tightens, a muscle feathering beneath the beard he hasn’t bothered to shave pulsing.

“Christ. I’ll be there.” He scrubs his hands up his face again, and I catch something on the underside of his forearm. It looks like blood dripping off something I can’t fully make out before he lowers his arms and starts typing seventy thousand miles a minute, the sound and pace distracting me from that.

“Okay.”

“Next time don’t come pounding on my door. That space is off-limits.”

“You could have answered my calls or emails or texts,” I snap, unable to keep the edge from my voice. “I also hit that fucking button that did nothing.”

“I was working.” He doesn’t spare me a glance as his fingers fly across his keyboard.