Hacking Mr. CEO (Billionaire Heists #3) by Anna Hackett

But once he knew what I was up to, then he’d hate my guts.

Guilt was a sucky emotion. I felt like I was coated in filth.

“Earth to Remi,” Steve said.

I jerked my head up and found everyone looking at me. “Sorry.”

“You’ve barely touched your food,” Mama said.

“I know. I’m not hungry. I have a lot on my mind.” I rose and took my plate to the sink. “I’ve got some more work I need to finish…”

I felt a tug on my jeans and found Kaylee in front of me. The little girl hugged me and my throat closed.

I dropped to my knees and hugged her back. “Love you, KayKay.”

She touched my nails. “Uh-oh.”

A couple were chipped. Probably thanks to my stint as an undercover electrician.

I smiled. “I might paint them tonight. What color should I do?”

The little girl cocked her head and grinned. “Red, with sparkles.”

“Deal.”

“Me too?” She held out a hand, a hopeful look on her face.

“No,” Steve said from the table.

Kaylee pouted. I tweaked her nose. “When you’re bigger, Princess.”

I walked past the others, and ruffled Jamal’s and Charlie’s hair. “Be good.”

“Never,” Charlie growled like a pirate.

Beside him, Naomi rolled her eyes.

I dropped a kiss to Mama’s cheek.

She grabbed my hand. “None of us are alone, Remi. We’re a family.”

A family she’d made. Love filled me.

I couldn’t let our family be broken. I’d had enough broken families to last me a lifetime.

I headed through the smaller side door into the auto shop. Everything was dark and quiet. Back in my loft, I made a beeline straight for my computer.

Nothing yet from my angel. I tapped my fingers on the desk. I was terrible at waiting.

I pulled out my nail kit and removed my old nail polish. I started work on blood red, with sparkle flecks in it. Mama had given me my first manicure a week after I’d come to her.

“You choose what color, Remi,” she’d said. “They’re your nails, it’s your choice.”

No one had ever given me a choice before.

Over the years, I’d become obsessed with pretty polishes. No matter what life threw at me, my nails were always colorful.

As I waited for the polish to dry, I awkwardly tapped in a search on Maverick.

I really, really didn’t want to steal from him. Corporate espionage left me feeling sick.

But a few days had already passed and my deadline was looming. My stomach heaved.

The guy was a billionaire, right? He’d bounce back if I stole some fancy design or program for my mystery employer.

The Calix Project. Again, I wondered what it was.

Some recent articles on Rivera popped up. There was a picture of him in a tuxedo at some fancy fundraiser. My entire body pulsed. The guy looked like he didn’t want to be at the shindig. He was scowling, but boy, oh boy, the tuxedo fit him so well.

I indulged a moment, imagining taking the suit off him.

Mmm.

Clearly it had been far too long since I’d had sex. The last guy I’d dated had been some banker from the city. We’d dated, slept together a few times, and then he’d ghosted me. Asshole.

Before him was a tattooed mechanic with a sexy motorcycle. We’d had fun, until I’d dropped in unannounced, and found him having sex with some short-skirted biker babe on the sexy bike.

My track record with men was not great.

The next article on Rivera was from some trashy gossip site. It was a grainy picture of him in a fancy bar. A flashy blonde in a tight dress was leaning into him. It looked like the picture had been taken from someone’s phone.

Man, it must suck to have people taking pictures of you all the time.

I studied the stacked blonde. She was the complete opposite of me.

The next picture was of him with Zane Roth and Liam Kensington. The billionaire bachelors.

Roth was your typical tall, dark, handsome, and rich. Liam Kensington looked like a prince—tall, golden, handsome, and rich.

There were two women in the shot, as well. It was from a party just this week. It appeared that the billionaire bachelors of New York were dropping like flies.

Zane was living with a locksmith store owner named Monroe O’Connor. Liam had recently been targeted by some crazy blackmail plot involving a gangster treasure and white-collar criminals. He’d fallen in love with a private investigator, Aspen Chandler. Their story was still all over the news.

The next shot was Maverick with his family.

I froze. There was a group of them, all dark-haired and brown-skinned. He had his arm around a curvy, comfortably plump, older woman. His mother. Behind them, his father was smiling, and so was Maverick.

Ha, so the man could actually smile. I stared at him. It was a hell of a smile.

I wondered what it felt like when he smiled at you like that.

I shook my head.

He wouldn’t be smiling at me. Ever.

It was clear that he loved his family. My gut curdled. Hell, maybe he was a decent guy.

And I had to hack his system and steal the Calix Project.

I squeezed my eyes shut. A headache was building. My computer chimed and I leaned forward. Then I gasped.

My little angel had given me a way in. It was still undetected.

I pulled in some deep breaths, and sent another silent apology to Maverick Rivera.