AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“This is my home, damn it!” she said fiercely.
“So it is,” he mocked. “Aren’t you going to invite me in?”
“I work for Kingston Security, your family-owned company. That doesn’t mean I have to let any of you in when you decide to visit my apartment uninvited.”
“That isn’t very friendly.”
“I’m not a very friendly or sociable person.”
“No, you aren’t, are you?” Casper’s humor faded as he straightened. “So much so that the briefest of searches for you online shows very few results. Nor does a more intense search. Which is odd, because almost every person in the western world has some sort of digital footprint.”
“Really.”
His eyes narrowed at the even tenor of Persy’s voice and expression. If she was rattled by his comments, it didn’t show. Indeed, the more he’d looked into Persy throughout the day, the more he’d realized the only details he could find on her were the ones from her years in the army. Casper had only known her father was still alive because he was named as her next of kin in her military records.
As Persy’s father was the only personal detail he’d been able to find, Casper had looked more deeply into Arnold Jones, hoping to find more details on his daughter that way. Arnold Jones was a widower and owned a successful estate agency. There was no information on his daughter Persephone, other than her date of birth and the schools she had attended before joining the army.
Which told Casper that someone, and it was someone who was almost as well-versed in hacking as he was, had already pared down the available details on her to the barest minimum.
There had definitely been no record of the stepmother Persy had inadvertently mentioned earlier today, before so obviously regretting having done so.
Casper still wanted to know more about Persephone Jones, and he now knew only she could tell him those details.
“Really,” he dryly echoed her comment. “You might want to remember that for next time.”
Her expression became even more guarded. “Next time I what?”
“Tell me, Persephone Jones, why doesn’t it say on your military records that as well as being such a good marksman you’re considered a sniper, you were also trained in digital infiltration? Which, in layman’s terms, means the army trained you to be a deadly killer and a world-class hacker. One who likes scorpions, apparently,” he challenged.
Casper knew he was right in all that he had surmised earlier, regarding the identity of the hacker who left a laughing scorpion on the screen, as the color quickly drained from Persy’s cheeks. That guilty reaction made the dozen or more freckles highly visible across her cheeks and nose.
“I don’t like scorpions, as such,” she recovered enough to finally state.
Although, the color remained drained from her cheeks, and her eyes had become a dark and guarded gold.
“I just admire the threat of the sting in their tail,” she added dismissively.
“Because you have that same sting?”
She frowned. “I wouldn’t say that exactly…”
“Several weeks ago, you hacked into my system and took all the money out of my bank accounts!”
“I also returned it a few hours later.” She made no attempt to deny she was responsible. “It had served its purpose,” she added without apology.
“In ensuring you had my attention so that I also became instantly aware when you later dropped evidence in several files on a number of abused women.”
She nodded. “So that you and your family could help those women escape that abuse, yes.”
“Which is exactly why I’m here.”
She eyed him warily. “It is?”
His expression softened. “You have to know, after working for Kingston Security for four months, that we have safe houses for situations where a client needs extra protection?”
“Yes…”
“Then why isn’t Martyna Morozova in one of them?”
