Hacking Mr. CEO by Anna Hackett
It Gets Worse
Remi
Air sawed in and out of my lungs. Maverick Rivera was standing right in front of me. Only the thin metal mesh of the fence separated us.
I swallowed. “Please don’t hurt my family.”
His dark gaze focused on me. He didn’t say anything. For a second, he reminded me of my picture of the warrior angel.
I stepped up to the fence and gripped it. “If you do…”
“I’m not going to hurt your family.”
The deep growl of his voice shivered through me, and mixed with a surge of relief.
My breath shuddered out of me. “I am sorry. I didn’t know what the Calix Project was. I guess I thought it was a design for a new phone, or something.”
He continued to stare at me.
“That doesn’t make it right,” I continued in a rush. “And I don’t know who the people who approached me are. It was stupid, and dangerous.”
He put his hand on the fence, an inch from mine.
This close, I felt the heat pumping off his big body.
“I won’t hack your system,” I said.
“Tell me everything that’s going on,” he demanded.
He said it like he was used to issuing demands and having them followed.
I shook my head.
“Remi.”
I sucked in a sharp breath. He knew my name. I nibbled my bottom lip, my belly churning. I saw his gaze drop to my mouth.
Oh. Shit.
My gaze flicked up and I swore I saw desire on his face.
God. I couldn’t deal with this. I was attracted to him. Hell, any woman with a pulse would be. And it appeared he felt the same.
Right, because I was a tall, lanky model/actress/socialite. I swallowed a snort. The guy wanted me arrested, not naked.
I was either imagining things, or Maverick Rivera didn’t mind sampling new flavors. The man was notorious for having no long-term relationships. Well, I wouldn’t be anyone’s flavor of the week.
“Look, just forget I ever existed. Go back to your fancy Manhattan pad, and our paths will never cross again.”
“I want to know who contacted you, and how. I want to find the asshole.”
I shook my head. “There is no way to find him. Look, I have to go.”
I really needed to get away from him.
His hand moved, his fingers touching mine. Just the smallest touch of our fingers through the mesh.
I gasped. I felt that sensation sear through me. I saw the answering echo in his eyes.
“I’m not going to hurt you, Remi.”
“I seem to remember the threat of police and jail.” I dragged in a ragged breath. “Actually, I’m glad you stopped me from making an even bigger mistake.”
I started to turn away.
“Don’t go.” His fingers tightened on mine.
I had to go. There was no way a scrappy hacker and a tech billionaire belonged in the same room, let alone breathing the same air.
God. I drank him in. I wished we did though.
Impulsively, I leaned in. He did too.
I pressed my lips to his through the mesh, the wire cold on my skin.
I barely got the faintest taste of him.
Then I turned and ran.
“Remi! Goddammit.”
I sprinted onto the next street, and kept running until I was out of breath. Then I slowed to a walk.
Overhead, the clouds churned. There was a storm coming. A cold wind picked up, blowing down the street and I pulled my coat around me.
God, I just kissed Maverick Rivera.
Oh, well. A fun story to tell my future grandkids. I hunched deeper into my coat. My life was still a mess. I’d almost committed treason, and I had no way to pay for Mama’s surgery.
My phone vibrated. I had an email. I opened my email app.
Any progress on the job?
I stilled, my insides going cold. The sender was a gibberish string of numbers and letters on a Gmail address.
Who is this?I replied.
Your new employer. You can call me The Shadow.
Oh God.The Shadow.
I tapped in a reply.
No. I’m not taking the job after all.
A second later, a response came back.
You agreed to the terms, Rogue Angel. You can’t back out now.
Anger spurted through me. He was trying to intimidate me.
I can, and I have.
Then I’ll just have to convince you that completing the job is in your best interests.
There was a photo attached to the message.
I opened it and tasted bile in my throat. No.
It was a picture of Charlie, Jamal, and Naomi, with backpacks slung on their shoulders, entering their school.
Four days to the deadline.
The world collapsed in on me. I’d tried to help Mama, but all I’d done was put everyone in danger.
My knees felt like Jell-O, and I wanted to collapse. I bit my lip so hard that I tasted blood.
I turned to head home, my feet leaden. My stomach was so churned up I thought I’d be sick.
What did I do now?
I no longer had bad choices, I had monumentally horrible ones.
Be a traitor, or put my family in the firing line of some shadowy bad guy.
Tears welled, and one slid down my cheek. I swiped it away angrily. Crying wouldn’t help. I’d learned that years ago.
My cell phone rang. There was no number on the display, and my gut clenched. Was it The Shadow?
Rage welled and I stabbed the screen. “If you hurt my family, asshole, I will find a way to make you pay, I swear it!”
There was a pause.
“I told you that I wouldn’t hurt your family.”
The air rushed out of me. Maverick’s deep voice.
“Uh, I didn’t know it was you.”
His voice hardened. “Who did you think it was?”
I swallowed.
“Remi?”
“Does that testy growl make people answer you, because it kind of makes me want to hit you?”
“Who threatened your family, Remi?”
I blinked, realization setting in. He had my cell phone number.
Hell, he was a tech guru who owned half the country. He probably knew my full name, my checking account balance, my bra size. I pressed a hand to my head. “He contacted me.”
Maverick cursed.
“Yeah, he’s not happy that I told him I wasn’t doing the job.”
“Meet me.”
My hand clenched on my phone. “This isn’t your mess, Rivera. You shouldn’t wade in. Walk away, and live your shiny, rich life.”
“No. Besides, I’m already in this.”
I huffed out a breath. “Something tells me you take stubborn to a new level.”
“So my friends tell me. Meet me, Remi.”
I gnawed on my lip. “Okay. Dave and Buster’s, Times Square.” I hung up before I could change my mind.
God, I hoped I wasn’t making another huge mistake.
* * *
Mav
Mav hadn’t been into Dave and Buster’s since he was a kid. He had a few fond memories of trying to beat his older brothers, Carlos and Daniel, at Mortal Kombat.
He still liked gaming. He had a good setup in his movie room at his penthouse.
He wondered if Remi liked gaming.
The memory of that tiny, barely-a-kiss through the fence hit him. It made things worse. Now he wanted to know what she really tasted like. What sounds she’d make as he thoroughly kissed her.
Fuck.
The sound of the terror in her voice on the phone had him worried.
His gut told him the situation was heading south, rapidly.
“Yeah, go, go, go!” a boy’s voice yelled across the arcade.
“She’s beating you! Hurry.”
Mav rounded some games and found a small crowd of kids gathered around a car racing game. The players sat in simulated cars, and the whine of engines echoed through the air.
“I’m going to catch you!” a boy yelled.
“No, you’re not,” a female voice said.
Remi.
Mav pushed through the crowd and saw her hands clenched on the steering wheel, a wide-eyed teen beside her.
On the screen, Remi’s car crossed the finish line.
“Woo-hoo!” She threw her arms up. “See, kid? Old people can game too.”
The boy laughed, and dropped a discreet glance at Remi’s breasts.
Mav cleared his throat.
Remi glanced at him, and her smile disappeared.
“I’ve got to go.” She climbed out of the car simulator.
“I’d go too,” a hovering teenage girl murmured, her gaze locked on Mav.
Mav took Remi’s arm and led her to a quieter part of the arcade.
“How about a game, Rivera?” she asked.
He frowned. “We’re not here for games.”
She raised a brow. “Afraid that I’ll beat you?”
“No.”
“Come on, then. I’ll even pay.”
Mav tried to think the last time a woman—not including his mother or sister, Maribel—had bought him anything.
“All right, Ms. Solano. You’re on.”
She paused. “You know my name.”
“Remina Solano.” He’d run a quick search on her. A foster child, cybersecurity consultant at Sentinel Security. Yes, he knew some details, but he wanted to know more.
Alarm bells were ringing in his head. The last time he’d wanted to know more about a woman, she’d been a gold digger.
“Here.” Remi stopped beside Space Invaders. “Let’s play this.”
Space Invaders. He hadn’t played it in years. “You’re on.”
She swiped a card, and the screens blinked and music dinged.
The countdown started.
Three. Two. One. “Go!” Remi said.
Mav jerked the gun. He was competitive by nature. He glanced sideways. Clearly, so was Remi. She was leaning into the game, her mouth open a little, her face focused.
His screen flashed.
“Watch out, Rivera, or you’re going to lose,” she taunted.
“Hell, no,” he growled.
She laughed.
In that moment, he forgot all about their troubles. Forgot everything. They were just a man and woman having fun.
Mav threw himself into the game, shooting down spaceships.
“Come on, Rivera. You need to be faster than that—”
“Watch that cockiness, angel.”
She grinned. “It’s not cocky if I can back it up.”
It was good to see the stress and sadness gone from her face for the moment.
The game time ticked down. He was gaining on her. A moment later, words flashed up. Game Over.
She turned and pointed. “Beat you, big guy.”
“Only by ten points. And I’m only big because you’re tiny.”
“Don’t change the subject. I won.” She did a little dance.
Mav tried not to watch the way her hips moved.
“Best of three,” he said.
“You’re on. I’ll even let you pick the next game.”
He picked Pac-Man.
“Let’s rumble,” she said.
They played the next game, trading good-natured barbs.
God, he was having fun with a woman at an arcade. Zane and Liam would lose it, laughing.
Mav won the second game. That’s when he learned that Remi pouted when she lost.
“Okay.” She grabbed his hand. “I know what we’ll play next.”
He felt tingles up his arm, and entwined their fingers.
She stilled. He saw her nails were painted a sparkly red. “Lead on and prepare to go down, angel.”
Golden-brown eyes met his gaze.
She cleared her throat and broke the connection.
She tried to pull free, but he held tight. Giving up, she led them to an old-fashioned, pinball machine.
“Old school,” he said.
“Think you can handle it?” She cocked a hip, sassy as ever.
“Yes. Let’s up the ante.”
She shot him a wary look.
“A bet,” he said. “If you win, what do you want?”
She scanned around. “Hot dog and fries at the restaurant.”
He grimaced. “The food here might kill you.”
She grinned. “Your billionaire is showing.”
“Fine, a hot dog it is.”
“And if you win? Which you won’t, what do you want?”
He gave her a slow smile. Her gaze locked on his mouth. “A kiss.”
“What?” Her gaze flicked up.
“A proper kiss. With tongue.”
She wiped her palms on the jeans.
“Afraid?” he asked.
“No. All right, big guy. Bring it.”
“Ladies first.”
She attacked the pinball machine like a soldier going into battle.
And she was good.
When she finished, her face was flushed. She gave him a curtsy and he was tempted to swat that curvy ass.
Mav took his position at the machine.
He fought hard, but in the end, he lost by a few points.
“Oh yeah, reigning champion.” She pointed to herself. “Right here.”
“Come on, champion.” He took her arm. “I owe you a hot dog.”
“Don’t forget the fries. And a cola.”
Soon they were seated at a table. Mav’s chair was too small, but he liked that their knees kept bumping against each other.
She ate like she gamed—all in, with gusto.
She licked ketchup off her fingers, and Mav felt the action in his cock.
“All right, Remi. Time to talk.”
He hated seeing the light leak out of her, and the tension return. He wanted to hug her.
What?Hell, he didn’t do hugging.
As he wrestled with the very out-of-the-norm feeling, she fiddled with her cup.
“The woman with you at the house, she’s your foster mother?” he asked.
Remi nodded and sighed. “Mama Alma. The most amazing, loving, caring woman in the world. She’s sick. She has a tumor and has six months to live.” Tears welled in Remi’s eyes and she sniffed them back. “The only option is experimental surgery. Expensive experimental surgery.”
Crap. She’d told him the truth.
“I panicked. I put my name on a black-hat board on the dark web. They contacted me.”
“They?”
“I think it’s actually a he. Calls himself The Shadow. I’ve no idea if it is a him, or a her, or a they. He didn’t share a real name.”
“And he asked for the Calix Project directly?”
She nodded. “He gave me a week. I have four days left. Or three and a bit.”
Damn. Mav sat back in his chair.
Remi blew out a breath. “Maverick—”
He felt a jolt. It was the first time she’d used his name, and he liked hearing it.
“He contacted me after I saw you today,” she said.
“And?”
“It gets worse,” she whispered.
He reached across the table and took her hand. She visibly started, and stared at their entwined fingers.
“Why are you being so nice to me?” she asked.
“Well, I could tell you that I’m a nice guy, but I’m not really. People say I’m mean, grumpy, and antisocial.”
She gave him a faint smile. “No, really?”
“Stow the sarcasm, angel.”
Her smile faded. “The Shadow said I can’t back out.” She tapped at the table with one of her colorful nails. “God, Maverick, they emailed me a photo of my foster siblings walking into school.”
Oh, crap.
