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I pictured my best friend’s face, her sweet hazel eyes, her unruly golden hair, and paint-covered hands. Her fearless optimism in the face of so much strife.Lia. I’m so sorry—it shouldn’t have taken me this long.That helped me steel my heart. This man didn’t care about me, and his own body was testament to the brutalness of such a lifestyle. I had to get Lia—and myself—as far away from the Michaelsons as possible.
Now or never.
I slipped inside, debating closing and locking the door, but I was certain that Daniel could get in. No, I had to be quick and smart. Sitting down on the leather chair, my bare pussy spasmed at the cool, smooth material and I tugged the front of Daniel’s shirt close, haphazardly doing one button. Then I did a double take at his set up.
Three giant monitors, a state-of-the-art server that looked custom built, a high-end keyboard, and one of the most expensive external hard drives on the market. A nervous pricklewent up my spine and settled over my scalp, some instinct blaring at me as I moved the mouse and woke up his computer.
I went rigid with shock, eyes flashing over the screens, the software that was open, and the developer code staring me straight in the face.
Daniel didn’t just have access toHyperion—this was Hyperion.
No—no, how?
For a moment my eyes burned with the unfairness of it, and I realized that I’d been hoping in the back of my head that Daniel and I could somehow find a way past this, that he would leave this criminal enterprise, that we could have a future—
Lia. I have to find Lia.
I began to pull up locations, eyes flashing over all of them, looking for that address in West Carlisle or any other sign of Lia. I hesitated when I saw something about Mickey Weiss, then froze when I saw Marina Fioreno’s name.
Lia’s mom? What?
I couldn’t help it, I clicked in, and I read something about a man named Caleb Hendrix that made my skin crawl. Shaking myself, even more scared for Lia, knowing I probably had mere minutes before Daniel came back, I went back to look for my friend when suddenly I stumbled upon familiar chat conversations.
My chat conversations—with Mr. Hype.
“No.” I put a hand over my mouth. Daniel was—oh no.
There was an entire file onMoxi,on Iris-Beta, and my phone number. And suddenly, the coincidence of this evening, the luck of finding a Michaelson took on a sharp relief that made me feel like the biggest idiot in the universe. I stood up and whirled around, ready to make any excuse to get out of there, only to freeze when I realized I wasn’t alone.
Daniel leaned against the doorway, watching my every move with a look on his that made my entire nervous system fill with ice. My knees gave out and I sat back down, breathing hard. I’d let myself get so wrapped up in this night—I’d forgotten what Daniel was, what this was—until that cold shock of reality hit when I met his eyes.
Along with a strange, stray, and aching though—he’ll never forgive me.
“Hey, Iris,” he said, stepping in and shutting the door. “I wondered when you’d figure it out.”
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Daniel
Sara, bravely, if not wisely, launched out of my desk chair, making a run for it, only to shriek when I snagged her around the waist and shoved her into a different chair in my office. It was a heavy wood chair with leather inlays, typically unoccupied. On the occasions that Family came by, Ty or one of the guys usually sat there, bored and on their phones while I worked on the computer.
I’d never expected to have a woman there, half-naked in my shirt while she cursed and tried to punch, claw, and kick her way free. But I still had the silk ties in my pocket, and I got one wrist tied to the arm of the chair, before Sara punched my jaw.
I staggered to the side, shaking my head, and she was trying to undo the knot when I caught her other hand and pinned it to the other chair arm, attempting to tie it while this little madwoman attempted to bite off my arm. With a grunt, I locked my elbowunder her chin, and Sara gasped, struggling, and the sound of her in distress caused something twisted in my gut. Something I shoved away, instead holding onto that cold, pragmatic, and bitter disappointment that Sara Tailor had betrayed me.
“Let me go,” she snarled, jerking back and forth, her face turning red as she tried to violently twist free of the bindings. I caught her by the throat, and she gaped, then glared up at me with such naked hatred that I accidentally tightened my grip. Tears came to her eyes, and I let go, hating myself, and trying to hold onto that cold pragmatism. “You will regret this, Michaelson.”
“Believe me, Tailor, I already do,” I said, trying to ignore the throb at looking down at her, restrained in a chair and wearing my shirt. “And as much as I liked having your bare pussy on my office chair—” I sank down on said chair, suddenly weary and gazing at her, wishing that I could be anywhere except this fucked-up situation. “I’m afraid this isn’t going to go well for you.”
Sara stared at me and then I was startled when her eyes went bright with tears, flashing to the computer screen and back to me. “How long did you know?”
I shook my head, confused by the question. “The whole time, of course.” A shock went through me at the look of devastation and hurt that filled her face before she whipped her gaze away, but her deep breaths were audible, as though she were attempting to calm herself down. I rubbed at my arm where she’d bit it, perplexed. “Let’s not pretend we weren’t both playing games toget what we wanted. It’s not like you didn’t know who I was. I know why you targeted me.”
Again, I was surprised by the look on her face, the rage and surprise. “You did? You fucking demon—” She tipped her head back and screamed, making me flinch. “How could you? Is this what you did to—?”
Sara broke off and my eyes narrowed, before I settled back, trying to ignore the uncomfortable throb in my pants. But the disappointment was growing. I’d been hoping, still, somehow, that she wasn’t a plant from Hendrix. However, a civilian wouldn’t be this calm, wouldn’t be this brave in the face of this—in the face of ademonlike me.
Her eyes slit at me. “What the hell is that stupid, pathetic sad boy look on your face?”
