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I clamp my teeth together and look away. His fingers in my hair tighten. A warning.
“Answer me.”
I stare stoically ahead. I know who I’m dealing with but I won’t be bulldozed by a goddamn man.
“No one sayssecretaryanymore. Join the modern age, you Neanderthal,” I mutter through clattering teeth.
To my surprise, he shakes his head and gives a cold chuckle before his grip tightens to painful. “Answer me,” he whispers in my ear. “Answer me now before this becomes a lot more painful for you.”
I grit my teeth and refuse to speak.
He pulls my hair and I gasp. I freeze, unable to move.
“I have other methods to make you talk,” he says in a voice that reveals no emotion. “But I won’t use them yet. With the plans I have for you, it would be better if you and I weren’t enemies out of the gate.”
“Fuck.You,” I seethe. As if he can just take me from my bed and manhandle me and expect us to not be enemies?
The pain worsens as he holds me in his grip. If I move, I’m fucked.
I feel his fingers against my aching scalp and his mouth to my ear. “Did. You. Do it?”
“Of course I fucking did,” I manage to rasp out. “I needed to talk to you. All I did was make her calendar disappear for a little while, so I think you’rewayoverreacting.”
“Am I?” he asks. He sighs as if pained as he reaches for his gun and cocks it. “We could try traditional methods if that’s what you truly prefer.”
Fear spikes through me and I’m suddenly wide awake. I wonder if I’ve imagined that he’s drugged me. My mouth feels dry.
“Her calendar should be back now,” I say, my voice sounding strange to my own ears.
“That isn’t the point, and you know it.”
His tone of voice — cold and indifferent, as if I’m nothing more than a specimen pinned on a card — scares me more than anything else he’s done. Why did I ever go to him to begin with?
Again, his fingers stroke through my hair, as if to remind me that if I behave, he can be very nice. But even drugged, I know that’s a lie. I wince when his grip tightens.
“I’m going to ask you another question. Think before you speak, Aria.” So we’re heading into first name territory, are we? Excellent. Something tells me familiarity with this man will be a huge mistake.
His mouth to my ear makes me shiver from the closeness and intimacy. The difference between warm and cold makes meuneasy. One minute, he’s holding me tight and the next, he’s switching on a dime.
“Fine,” I say, my teeth chattering.
“Did you hack into any of our other systems? Tell the truth now.”
I don’t respond at first. So maybe I did. Maybe I found it as easy as opening up a can of soup to get into her calendar, and…maybe I was curious. I wondered what I would find. Sometimes when I discover a hidden passageway or open door, curiosity kills me.
This time it actually might.
“I peeked,” I say through gritted teeth. “I touched nothing. Downloaded nothing. I barely even looked.”
This time when he pulls my hair, I feel as if it’s coming out at the roots. I scream but it doesn’t stop him. He knows exactly what he’s doing, hurting me in a way that makes me vulnerable and won’t leave a mark. Tears spring to my eyes.
“Tell me what you saw.”
There’s no point in holding back at this point. “I found the names of the men in your group. Contact information. Addresses. Some financial transactions. Contracts and identities I didn’t understand.”
Another lie. They had informant identities clearly marked and categorized. The contracts were drawn up with agreements and arrangements with other groups and individuals. It was very civilized, honestly. He needs better fucking cybersecurity, but it’s probably not the wisest thing totellhim that right now.
“Very good. Some truth.” To my surprise, he strokes my hair, almost gently, another reminder that he’ll play nice if I do. “My brother was right.”
