AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I’m sure you’ll get it,” I offer, though it’s not much as far as encouragement goes. He glances over his shoulder. “You need to wake her up. She probably knows who the hacker is.”
I stare between the two of them, noting at the same time that Jasper moved to stand next to the desk. “What makes you think that?” I’m becoming skeptical that the stress of the situation isn’t getting to him. How much longer until he completely snaps and I have to shoot him again?
“Because,” he says distractedly, hitting the keys a little harder. “This is the computer where the guy I’ve gone up against wrote the code. With her locked in there, she probably saw who it was.”
“Why do you even care?” I really don’t get it, but I tap at the woman’s cheek with the flat of my fingers, working to rouse her.
“You’ve never had a nemesis. This is the first time I’ve gone up against someone like them,” he answers.
The woman’s eyelids flutter, and she suddenly takes a deep breath in. For a moment she seems disoriented, her gaze flicking all over the place. She cradles her head in her hand and tries to push herself to a sitting position, but the arm she’s using gives out.
On the second try, she manages to sit, but when her gaze lands on Cole, she lunges for him.
I’m getting real sick and tired of people going after my men. I draw my gun and point it at her. “Don’t even think about it.”
She freezes right away, her eyes going wide as she stares at me. “I need to get over there. I have to find Master before he gets away.” Her voice is tight and scratchy, probably a side effect from the lack of oxygen.
“Master, huh?” I verify, astounded she’d want to call anyone that. “And why do you think you can find him from there?” I point to where Cole is sitting.
“Because I’ve worked too hard to set this all up. He can’t get away. I need to be free.”
“Raven,” Cole barks at me. It’s in a tone unlike any I’ve heard from him before. It’s so abnormal from him that I startle.
“What?” My heart pounds, but I’m not willing to take my eyes off the woman. Not when she already tried going to him. She stares back at me, not willing to look away from the person holding a gun on her. I can tell it’s not the first time. She’s wary, but doesn’t hold the same fear as my previous victims have in the past.
“Why are you pointing a gun at my sister?” he growls.
“What?” I repeat. This time, his question jars me enough to make me turn to face him, but he’s no longer paying attention to me. He’s staring at the woman next to me. That familiar flair of jealousy sparks again. He better quit staring at her real quick or my finger might slip.
“Becca,” he stutters.
Did he just say Becca? Like his sister? His words finally process and I lower my weapon. I’ll holster it when I’m certain she isn’t a threat to him. She’s been gone for a long ass time and brainwashing is a thing. She did refer to TB as master, after all.
“Cole!” she cries, scrambling to her feet. Her muscle weakness persists, so she crawls across the floor. I twitch to stop her, but catch Jasper’s hand held out, indicating I shouldn’t interfere.
The burning need to stab something dissipates now that I’ve realized it’s his sister. The resemblance smacks me in the face, and I wonder how I didn’t see it before. But now I’m left with so many other unanswered questions.
He sits in the rolling chair, frozen in place, unable to move. I know how worried he was about seeing her again, but it seems she’s simply happy to have her twin here.
“I knew you’d find me.” She reaches the chair and claws her way up his body, wrapping her arms around his neck. He blinks slowly and finally does the same, holding her to him even if he looks like a stiff board. “It took me so long to get a few seconds to send the footage of me. I knew if you got an alert on your program, you’d stop at nothing to get me back.”
She sobs in his arms, and he melts into the hug. It’s like he was stopping himself from believing she’s actually here and is finally now realizing he can trust it.
After a time, he draws back suddenly, holding her at arm’s reach. “Wait a second. Are you telling me you’re the hacker I’ve been going up against? The one who was blocking me at every turn? The one who crashed our plane and tried to kill not only me, but the woman I love, too?”
Her mouth drops open, but no sound comes out as she glances at me, then back at him. “Most of the time I was following his orders, I didn’t know who was affected. They watched everything I did. I stored fractions of code at a time when they were distracted just so I could release that video of me.”
Cole shoves her away, his actions causing me to point the gun at her again.
“That doesn’t explain how you learned to do any of it. Those assholes wouldn’t teach you anything useful outside of how to spread your legs.” He’s shaking, every word seeming to kill what small slivers of his soul that’s left. The parts he already gave to me.
I move my finger over the trigger. She doesn’t get to taint them.
Chapter 23
Raven
Jasper’s warm chest presses against my back and his hand slides down my arm, forcing me to point the gun toward the ground. “Give her a chance to explain.”
