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And now this morning, we were just kind of… here.
Sure, there was a kitchen remodel but now knew that’snotwhat we were supposed to be doing and Owen had the answer. Just so happened one of us had to go meet the bastard to figure out why. I glanced down at Paval and smiled. “Rhys is more comfortable with you and if anyone’s going to be able to talk him out of a panic attack, it’s going to be you.”
Gianni nodded. “Still, I don’t like you going alone. Not after-”
I put up my hand, refusing to remember that last job. “Owen is a little shit but he’s harmless. Mostly. We’re meeting at the coffee shop down the street. If I’m not back in 30 minutes, bring the calvary.” The time limit was for Owen and not me. There was no goddamn way I was going to be able to sit across from that man and not want to rip him into shreds for what he had done to one of ours.
Already including Rhys, huh?
Shrugging off that thought, I made my way down the street, my body tensing as I locked eyes with Owen. He was an unassuming man but after seeing the terror on Rhys’ face and hearing his voice, I knew that Owen was a nightmare all on his own. Add in the fact that he had been the one to actually hire us and I already hated the bastard.
He raised a hand, a warm smile on his face as I slid into the chair across from him. “Looks like you’ve been up all night.”
I growled at him because he had to know why, what with the way we nearly cremated him into Rhys’ carpet floor. We had mostly avoided the face, but I could tell Owen was still uncomfortable. Good. I kind of wanted to finish what we had started.I bet he squeals like a little pig.
“Get to the point,” I ground out, glaring at the mug of hot coffee sitting in front of him. He really didn’t see anything wrong with what had happened last night, did he?
He took a long, exaggerated sip before nodding. “Look, I know you guys came for the job I called in and… I don’t know why he called you guys last night but I’m not happy with the way you treated me. That’s my fiancé. Stop fucking jerking him around with false promises. He’s a little fragile.”
Fragile?Rhys was anything but fragile. Soft, a little timid, sure. But fragile? If he was, it was only because of the disaster sitting right in front of me. I decided to play whatever game Owen was playing because it would get me out of here faster without breaking any of his bones. “Didn’t know he was yours. Good to know.”
He took another sip. “So, you’ll leave him alone.”
It wasn’t a question but a rather weak statement. There was no force behind his words and so I wasn’t going to succumb to whatever he wanted. “That’s not what I said. Do you want our help or not?”
Owen sighed. “Fine. Yes. Just stay away from him. There’s this-” And then he went off on this wild tangent about a program that could determine almost any statistical value and the likelihood of where that value was. I was no math major but I could foresee a billion different issues with this program, especially when Owen finally told me the dangers of it. “It can determine monetary values. Dmitri, think banks, trucks, businesses. If this gets into the wrong hands, it’ll be a disaster.”
There had been many jobs where our task was to steal an object like this, something invaluable—priceless. However, this was the first time we had been hired to steal a program. I also didn’t know how to go about doing that. Did we take a computer? Kill a scientist? Burn down an IT building?
“I need you to find it and bring it to me.”
And that’s when my hackles raised. Owen was a shady character. He was the very definition of thewronghands. However, my curiosity got the better of me. “Do you know who has it?”
He shook his head. “Not a clue but I know where to start. I just can’t get any information out of him. Tried everything and he just clams up. Keeps saying it’s top secret or some shit when I know it’s not. He’s playing a dangerous game and I just want him out.”
I had a bad feeling. Like areallybad one. “Who is it?”
“Rhys. God, I love him so much but he just doesn’t understand the world he’s stepped into or he does and he’s harboring one of the most destructive programs in the world. I just want to help him and… I didn’t expect this, but because he trusts you guys for some reason, maybe you can help. You just need to find out where it is and bring it to me so I can take care of it.”
His words didn’t match the light dancing in his eyes so I just nodded, needing Gianni’s wise words before I did anything stupid. There was no fucking way Rhys had any idea how dangerous his stuff was. Then again, I had been lied to on more than one occasion and hadn’t seen it coming. “You got the rest of the funds for it?”
Owen pulled out his phone and tapped a few keys before showing me the balance in his bank account. “Yep. And it’s yours the moment you leave my house.”
His house?Valentyn had shared his research with us and it had been in Rhys’ name,notOwen’s. Instead of making a big deal about it, I just nodded and let him know that I’d get back to him. Then I pushed away from the table and headed back to the house. Gianni caught my expression immediately. “That bad?”
“That’s one way of putting it. He’s looking for a program that can do some real damage. He says that he’s going to get rid of it but I don’t believe him.”
“And said program is where exactly?”
My eyes traveled to the back room, my shoulders falling. “Apparently, it’s Rhys’ dissertation project.”
Chapter twenty-two
RHYS
I woke up cuddled in Val’s arms, my tears dried on my cheeks, the weariness of last night keeping me from freaking out, not to mention that I felt safe and protected right here. He hummed as I moved, drawing me closer to his chest. “Five more minutes.”
As cheesy as those words were, they warmed my heart with the slight rasp to his voice thick with sleep. I nodded and closed my eyes again but instead of finding peace, I saw Owen’s crazed expression staring back at me as he yelled about dinner.
