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“Next time, I’ll trust my first instincts.”
“Funny.” He crossed his arms. “Well, even though I hate everything about the way you do business—you know, secretly stalking, cheating, and hacking your way to the top, I’m glad that you’re able to put your hatred of me to the side and be social from time to time.”
“I’ve never hated you, Austin,” I said.
“You should. I’m your top competition.”
“No, you think you’re my top competition.” I grabbed a beer from a waiter’s tray. “No one in this city is on my level, and we both know that.”
"Is that so?" He smirked and pulled out his phone. "Then I take it you haven't tried to hack into my system tonight like you usually do to land a painting fraudulently."
“It’s not fraud if I pay for it.”
“You know what I mean.” He narrowed his eyes at me. “You knock out the top bidders every year just to be an ass.”
“Or because I want the paintings.”
"Whatever." He tapped his fingers against his screen. "I set up a new system months ago, and I bet even you won’t be able to get through it.”
“I got through it an hour ago.” I sipped my beer. “It was an improvement from last year, though. Your people can send my paintings to my same address or have them ready for me when I check out of this hotel tomorrow morning.”
“You got through? But I ...” His face turned red, and I watched him struggle to find his next words. "You know, you're more of a hacker than a cybersecurity guru. I know the real truth about you."
"I know the real truth about you, too,” I said. "I've seen your sealed case records. It must've been nice having a rich father who could get you out of pretty much anything."
His face paled. "You have no idea what you're talking about."
"I don't?"
"That's what I said." He swallowed. "No idea."
"It's okay, Austin." I shrugged. "I'm sure no one else here knows about that out of control frat party you attended during your junior year of college. You know, the one where you 'accidentally' assaulted a half-drunk woman while she was dozing off in the bathroom, I'm sure no one would think that your annual, No Violence Against Women Art Auction is just a way for you to sleep better at night."
He slammed his glass onto a table and walked away.
If tonight were any other night, I would've laughed at his snarky "real truth" comment, but these days, I was beginning to feel like his words were true. I spent more time hacking into systems than building them, and after constructing the ones I intended to sell through my new company within a matter of days, I was in desperate need of a challenge.
I headed toward the door to leave, stopping dead in my tracks when I caught sight of a sexy woman in a tight purple dress on the other side of the roof. She was making every man around her do a complete double-take.
From behind, the skintight dress was hugging her curves in all the right places, and her blond hair was pinned up into a bevy of loose curls.
Accepting a drink, she shook the hand of a man in a grey suit and smiled. Then she stumbled forward a bit in her stiletto heels and gripped the railing.
Laughing, she tilted her head back and slowly turned to the side, revealing a pair of pouty red lips and a set of familiar light blue and grey irises.
Hayley?
I dropped my beer to the ground in utter disbelief. I looked her up and down again as her raspy laughter floated over the cool night air.
It was definitely Hayley. As in my best friend’s little sister, Hayley. And she looked nothing like the girl I once knew. Nothing like the girl with bushy eyebrows who climbed through my bedroom window to find her brother and ask me one too many questions.
The only thing recognizable about this version of Hayley were the small scars that remained on her arms from her childhood years, but someone would have to squint to notice them.
I leaned back against the railing and watched as she continued to charm the circle of people around her, as the men studied her every move and slipped their business cards into her purse.
Her eyes suddenly met mine, and she blinked a few times. Then she smiled and left the grey suit in mid-conversation, walking right over to me.
“Hey, Corey!”
