Page 69 of One Midnight Kiss

“Someone at work knows about it,” she said. “Someone I would prefer didn’t know about it. Basically, it gives them power over me.”

My eyebrows shot up. “Who?” I asked, even though I already had a good guess.

“It doesn’t matter.”

“Aaron,” I guessed, standing up and crossing the room to grab my laptop off the dining-room table. I hadn’t touched the damn thing in weeks. Most of my tech work these days was done by my team, but this felt like something I wanted to handle myself.

She stared at me like I had just read her mind. “How did you know?”

I gave her a dry look. “Because he’s an ass, and I don’t like the way he talks about you. He’s been making snide comments during every meeting. I have a pretty good jackass radar. He set the alarm bells off from the moment I saw him.” I flipped open my laptop and started typing. “So, what exactly did he say?”

Her voice was laced with frustration. “He knows our engagement is a sham. He basically called me a liar and implied that if anyone found out, it would ruin both of us. He said people in your office are talking.”

I smirked. “And you told him what?”

“That if he said anything, I’d ruin his life,” she finished with a huff.

I stopped typing and looked at her, a slow grin spreading across my face. “Have you ever ruined anyone’s life before, Natalia?”

She didn’t miss a beat. “I’m sure you’d say I’ve ruined yours in some way.”

I couldn’t help but laugh, genuinely impressed. “You’re not totally wrong.”

I turned back to my screen, fingers flying over the keyboard. It had been years since I got to do any hacking. Although it wasn’t hacking if I had permission. The familiar rush hit me like a drug. God, I’d forgotten how much I loved this. I loved coding and cracking into things I wasn’t supposed to. I probably should have called one of the MIT educated software engineers that worked for me, but this was too fun. I didn’t get to do this kind of thing anymore.

I barely noticed Natalia watching over my shoulder. “How do you know what all those numbers mean?” she asked.

“It’s just like learning a new language. Like French. Eventually you start thinking in numbers like this and it’s like you’ve known how to do it your whole life.”

“Do you know French?”

“No, not really. I’ve only been to France once.”

“Me too.”

I looked over at her, feeling that same, heavy jolt of recognition and familiarity that had been plaguing me since I met her. I almost asked when she was in France, wondering if there was even the slightest chance we were at the same party that fateful night, but I changed my mind. There was no way. I turned back to my computer.

“What are you doing?” she asked, leaning over to peek at my screen.

“Hacking into Aaron’s phone,” I said casually.

Her gasp was immediate. “No!” She lunged for the laptop, but I easily shifted it out of her reach. “Why would you do that?”

“Because he’s as stupid as he looks,” I said. “I can see the app on his phone. I’m just going to wipe his history before I erase yours from the database.”

“Can you get in trouble for this?” she asked, horrified.

“Probably,” I admitted, grinning up at her. “But billionaires never go to prison. And I’d have to get caught first.”

She looked like she wanted to argue, but instead, she sank back into the couch, crossing her arms. “You didn’t need to go this far.”

“Not one for revenge, are you?”

“I just feel like you could have helped me get back into the app first, instead of all this.”

“Well, this is a lot more fun.”

Natalia rolled her eyes but didn’t protest further. She leaned back, exhaling sharply. “Fine. But what are we going to do if Aaron exposes us? He’s right, you know. It would be a PR nightmare if people found out our engagement was just a marketing strategy.”