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She raised her head. She had almost forgotten Dante De Luca’s presence... He was standing very still, expressionless, his arms crossed and staring at her. She must have looked tired. She nodded slowly.
“That Dive was a bit intense, but I’m fine.”
She suddenly remembered... he had actually watched everything! Eden grumbled, and grabbed one of the pups to hug him, hiding her face behind him and her long hair with that excuse. She was so embarrassed. That stupid pink cat outfit! Loir ought to be glad Dante was standing between them at the moment, because Eden had some very clear ideas on how she planned to get revenge.
“It was intense for sure,” moaned Loir. “I’m starving. Staaaaaaaarving.”
“We can have food ordered,” said Rolf.
Dante was still staring right at Eden, and clearly not listening to Loir’s long list of desired dishes. Eden kept trying to look down, but she couldn’t keep strangling a wriggling pup to hide herself. Instead, she just scratched his belly and tried to think of something else.
“...Do you want something too?” asked Rolf, walking past her and toward the door.
“I’ll share with Loir.”
“Understood.”
Eden was a bit surprised at how polite and obedient Rolf was to her, but the man simply walked out to go and probably gather the crazy amount of food Loir had requested.
Eden glanced to the side. This time, Dante had turned his feet, and she could see the leather Italian shoes pointed toward Loir’s screens. She looked up, and indeed, Dante was staring at the screens with his arms crossed, looking interested.
“So that’s your online identity... Miss... Pink Sexy Jelly Paws?”
Eden tried really, really hard not to roll her eyes. Loir was clearly doing this on purpose. There was no way Dante was going to believe this was really her identity! Still, she took a deep breath and nodded, deeply ashamed. She couldn’t even believe she agreed to that...
“Interesting,” chuckled Dante with his deep voice. “Interesting name, and... outfit. Not quite what I had imagined. However...”
Eden froze.
He couldn’t have found out, right? This was her online identity. Loir had made a decent job of preparing something in such a short time; he couldn’t think there was anything else. No matter how insane her online appearance was, he ought to know an online identity couldn’t be forged. Even if Loir had very likely gathered all of the gear last minute, Eden was clinging on to the one thing Dante ought to know.
Every person had only one identity online. If she was Miss Pink Sexy Jelly Paws, she couldn’t also be Ghost. It didn’t make sense. Her SIN couldn’t lie. There was the Eden in real life, and the Eden her SIN was using each time she went online. Dante had been there all along too. He had seen Eden use her SIN to get online and come back. She couldn’t fake that. Would he let it go then?
Obviously not. He was leaning over, one hand on Loir’s chair, his golden eyes fixated on one of the screens. Eden wished she could tell what was happening in that brain of his. Dante was simply smiling, smiling like a tiger about to eat his share of fresh meat...
“How long will it take for you to decipher all of the data?” he asked Loir.
“About three hours,” said Loir with a large satisfied smile. “Our Kitty worked well... The Core must be crazy unhappy right now! Alarms ringing on all floors, everybody out, ladies and babies first!”
“...What do you usually do with the extra data you get?” asked Dante, grabbing his pack of cigarettes.
Loir rubbed his fingers together.
“Money, Sugar Daddy. Information is the one thing people are willing to pay a lot of pretty numbers for... Once we get what we came for, Kitty and I just wait until we catch more fish, and sell what they want...”
“Don’t you ever get caught selling that information?” smiled Dante.
“Only if you’re trying to sell a carpet to a monkey!” exclaimed Loir. “No, no, no, Big Kitty. I prepare the yummiest little fishies, and then I hook the biggest shark...”
“Loir, shut up,” groaned Eden.
She wasn’t sure it was safe to let Dante know their way of working. Not just because Loir usually sold most of the data they got on the Black Market, but because some of those sharks he happily hooked were probably enemies of the Italian Tiger... other Zodiacs.
Dante turned to her with a little smile.
“Keep it all for me, then,” he said. “I’ll buy everything you got.”
“Are you sure, Big Kitty?” asked Loir, smiling from ear to ear. “That’s going to be a lot of kaching-kaching...”
