My Fake Billionaire Damaged Boyfriend
Chapter 14

Izzy

I waltz into work like nothing has happened, but that doesn’t last very long.

Soon, I’m shoved into Alek’s office by a huge man with dauntingly dark eyes, the same eyes that glared through me the night before. I hiss a breath, ready to bite, kick and scream my way out of Alek’s office, but instead, I’m pushed into a chair facing the desk.

Alek is behind the desk, his hands folded comfortably on his round stomach that presses to his tacky suit. “Hello, Ms. Bellerose.”

I swallow at the sound of my last name in his venomous hiss of a voice, “Hello, sir.”

Looking behind me briefly, I track three huge men in the office, all three of them far too similar to the thugs that robbed Dimitri and I last night. I sink into my chair, clutching the armrests in case I’m about to be hurled through the window of this office and made into roadkill on the streets of Seattle below.

“No need to stress. I’m here as a friend, Izzy. I wouldn’t hurt you.”

My eyes flicker to my forearm which is still bruised from his pressuring grip, “What do you want with me, then?”

“A deal,” he says cheerfully. Reaching into his desk drawer, he holds up my flash drive and slides it across the desk, as if offering it back to me, “I think my approach before was a little harsh. I had no idea how skilled you were in this field, Izzy. I must admit, I’m impressed.”

I curl the flash drive into my palm, curling my fingers around it carefully, “Thank you, sir.”

“Easy, Izzy. I’m not your boss right now. I’m your friend.”

Skeptical, I play along for safety’s sake, “Okay, then.”

“So, let’s make a friendly deal, shall we?”

I only nod this time, hesitant to know his intent at this point.

Knitting his fingers into one another, he rocks back in his chair and smiles obnoxiously, “Alright, dear. Here’s my proposition. You give me a raw, malleable file just like that one in your hands, and I’ll buy it for twice what it’s worth.”

My brows furrow, “What? Why? You had my flash drive. You could have just stolen it.”

“No, you don’t get it, Izzy. That’s your file. That code helps you break into my system, right? It replaces the discrepancy in minutes, rather than weeks. I want something like it, something that I can adjust as I see fit. Your version is far too strict for even the best of my hackers to break.”

I turn it over in my hands, my skin cold and clammy, “What happened to wanting me to break into the software like you asked?”

“That deal went out the door when you told Dimitri Wilde what happened between us. And might I add, I’m sorry for my abrasiveness before. That wasn’t very considerate of me. But, I have no doubt in my mind that it was you who broke in the first time, and the second time, then flooded my software with meaningless garbage to throw off the scent.”

That’s exactly what I did.

“Maybe,” I breathe, “Maybe not. You need more proof than just my little coding trick here.”

“I don’t need anything now, but your cooperation, Izzy. You see, my relationship with Dimitri is a complicated one. His father was like my brother once upon a time, and it was a shame when he died so suddenly.”

My heart sinks. I didn’t know his parents were dead.

“But he took their place with such vigor that I just thought it would be some friendly competition. It seems that has changed over time, and we have something bigger to deal with now. Something that can be solved if you offer to sell me that device, but with more flexible walls.”

I shake my head, done tiptoeing around the truth with him. My hands ball into fists, and I shove my chair back as I stand abruptly, Alek keeping his wolves at bay as they dare to come closer to push me back in order.

F**k order.

I’m pissed.

“You tried to sell my information online,” I spit, “You created a backdoor that takes users’ information off their devices, the ones installed with your software, and you sell it to no-good thugs, just like the ones that are panting at your side right now. You’re a crook, and I wouldn’t sell you a thing even if I didn’t have a penny to my name.”

I turn at once, ready to rush out of here, but a thick hand snatches my arm, yanking me to the ground while my elbow is hiked to my upper back. I hiss and m**n, willing to scream in order to cause a disturbance, but there’s something cold and deadly in Alek’s eyes now.

I don’t make a single sound as he stands, leisurely adjusts his coat, and comes to stand over me.

“You’re really making a mistake here, sweetheart. I’m trying to give you an opportunity, and you’re disrespecting my mercy towards you.” He rolls his cufflinks in his pudgy fingers methodically, “I’m sorry about the mistake with your information, Izzy. It’s a setup that happens automatically, and if I knew you would be so valuable to me now, then I wouldn’t have let that happen. I mean, hell, my information is firewalled. I can do the same for you now.”

“Too late,” I whimper, trying to gain my arm back, but the brute behind me only tightens my position more, the pain unmatched, “I won’t help you, Alek.”

“I think you will. You see, if you don’t make me a copy, I’ll have you and your boyfriend turned in for hacking my company.”

“I’ll show them the engine,” I gust, “I’ll give them the backdoor where you’re selling people’s information on the black market. I’ll drag you underwater with me.”

Still, he seems rather unbothered by such a threat. “You can say that, but thanks to your little coding trick on that drive, I’ve hidden the backdoor elsewhere, and tested it with your device. It’s buried under so much code that the only way anyone is going to replace out where the engine is now, is if they have four years to spare.”

My teeth clench in ferocity, “F**k you.”

“Save the vulgar talk for your boyfriend, Izzy. I’m trying to be friendly here. You either make me the same device without the protected walls that guide the system to replace a single inconsistency, make me one with the ability to replace all the inconsistencies and the backdoors in the code, and I’ll give you something that you so desperately need.”

“I don’t need a damn thing from you.”

“Really? I don’t think that’s the case at all. I know you’re in debt, sweetheart. I could wipe that out with the click of a button.”

My heart stammers to a stop. “I-I don’t need your money.”

“You sure?”

The man behind me finally releases my arm, and I cave to the floor, holding my elbow to soothe the taut tension that has inflicted my elbow. Rubbing the spot tenderly, I look up at Alek’s bold, unbothered features. He knows my weakness, even if I sit here and deny it all day long.

“I have a million dollars that can settle the depths of your past, Izzy. Your parents did you wrong and left you in a pit that you’ll never get out of on your own. Given that I can still spot your debts through the banks, that means your boyfriend hasn’t bailed you out yet. You haven’t told him how bad it is, have you?”

Defeated, I can only shake my head.

“I understand. It can be hard to disclose such a failure to a person that cares about you. I mean, he could think you’re using him for his money, after all. He could leave you in the dust tomorrow, and if you don’t take this deal, then you’ll really be in a bind. You don’t want that, do you?”

I shiver at his words, my insecurities bubbling to the surface, “He won’t leave me.”

“He won’t? Are you sure about that, Izzy? You were the last of the litter, the runt of the family, and you were ditched like it was nothing. You haven’t had a steady job since your parents’ deaths, and you put everything on the line to move out here and take this job. Am I right?”

Mist in my eyes, and bricks in my heart, I nod once again, “Yeah, so what?”

“You don’t have any other choices here. Dimitri is a user, trust me. I know him better than you do, and for longer, as well. Hell, look at our relationship. He pretends to be cordial with me for the sake of business, and that business is solely driven to take me down. He’s good at faking kindness and niceties if it means he gets what he wants in the end.”

My breath hitches. “He’s n-not faking it with m-me.”

Alek checks his watch, uninterested in this back-and-forth of Dimitri’s loyalty. “You don’t get this offer for long, Izzy. Just think about what would happen if you turn down this deal, and Dimitri eventually walks away from you without a second glance. You’ll be out of a job, and in a rut finically, and back to your forgotten status that you’re so used to.”

I shut my eyes tight, trying to drown out his voice, but it’s all for nothing.

“You can be alone in this, or you can build me a system like yours with a few modifications, and I can make sure you’re not left behind ever again. You want that, don’t you? Stability?”

“I have stability with him.”

“Oh, sweetheart. You have a façade with him.”

I wince, hearing his words and feeling them prick my soul like a single needle against the world’s largest balloon. I fall onto my palms, panting in agony that far exceeds physical pain. Emotional turmoil is like fire in my throat, and ice in my veins.

The saddest part is that Alek is right.

This is all a façade with Dimitri.

His not yet could mean not ever, and the thought of that is terrible.

Speaking so low that I almost wish I couldn’t hear my voice, I reply with, “Fine. As long as you don’t use my code to hurt anyone, Alek.”

His voice is more chipper than before. “Of course, sweetheart. I promise. Now, get up, calm down, and get to work, okay? I want this to be your top priority.”

His steps kick past me, and the creaking of his office door is stifled by his voice when he adds offhandedly, “You’re doing the right thing, Ms. Bellerose. I promise. Dimitri Wilde is a reckless bull in a world of glass, and you’re nothing but a vase in his way, waiting to be shattered like the rest of us.”

He leaves, and I assume his goons follow, allowing me to fully—and finally—break down in peace.