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At that moment, a chat window popped up on my screen.
LILLY: Stop stalling and finish up. You’re three minutes past the scheduled finish time.
ME: I wasn’t aware this was a timed assignment or THAT IT WASN’T A SIMULATION!!!!!!!!
LILLY: Don’t shout at me, young lady!!! I will kick your ass the next time I see you.
ME: Apologies, your royal hackerness.
LILLY: Finish the job. You left one spot with your name on it. Clean it out. I’ll handle the rest.
ME: Should I learn to do all of it?
LILLY: What I’m about to do is highly illegal.
ME: More than what I did?
LILLY: You have no idea. Plus, these skills take years to master, and people like you hire people like me to do the jobs for you.
ME: I’ll remember to keep you on retainer.
LILLY: Smart woman.
I closed the window and traced back through the banking system to find where I missed the connection to me, cleared it, and linked it to Andraius. Once I backed out of all the systems, I enacted the security firewall for my computer and shut it down.
Only someone with Lilly’s skill level could break into this thing.
Now for a few hours of relaxation and reading. Tomorrow, I’d have more than my share of problems to deal with, especially when my beloved husband discovered his accounts emptied.
A chill slid up my spine. Maybe I should have just removed any connection to me and left the money.
No. I couldn’t second-guess myself. I’d made the right decision. It wasn’t Andraius’s money in the first place. It belonged to the family.
The uneasiness in my stomach continued to grow.
I needed to tell Theo and Xander what I’d done.
Fuck. They were at a late-night meeting off property.
I had to keep it together. I had to remember I was safe here. Andraius was on the other side of the compound with around-the-clock guards.
Hell,Ihad around-the-clock guards.
Shit, that wasn’t a good example. Mine hadn’t a clue where the fuck I was at the moment.
Rising to my feet, I moved to pick up the book I’d started a few days ago. I’d occupy myself with some mindless reading.
I thumbed through the pages, opening it to where I last stopped, and set it on the side table near my favorite sofa.
As I reached to the side to grab my blanket, a hand fisted my hair, hurling me back, and a forearm locked around my throat.
“I learned a secret of yours today. This house is full of passageways. I found one near the fireplace in the room you jailed me inside.” His disgusting breath wafted over me. “It led across the house to the kitchen. Then I had three choices. Lucky me, on the first try I found the library.”
I tried my hardest to remain calm, even though the barest amount of air passed into my lungs with how tightly Andraius held my throat. I grasped at his arm, tugging and scratching.
I’d forgotten about the connecting hallways from the other side of the house. Why hadn’t I checked all the doors? I was so stupid, thinking I was safe and letting my guard down.
I was never safe. How many times would I have to learn this lesson?
