Izzy

I’m happy it’s the weekend, because it’s late and I would rather be in bed right now, but with every wall I break through, another wall comes up begging to be torn down. I fight through the code until I exhaust myself, laying my face on the keyboard while the reminisce of pizza crust and a coffee mug stare me in the face. Even through all this work, I expected Dimitri to be better company.

He’s currently playing with a tennis ball that he hits against the side of the wall, just to have it bounce back toward him so he can throw it again. I finally lose my mind after the endless monotony of the thump, thump, thump noise that he’s creating.

I get up and grab the ball, throwing it recklessly into the living room while he gives me a puzzled look like he had no idea that was coming. “You’re driving me mad,” I hum. “Either help or be silent.”

“Easy, Kitten.”

“And stop calling me that,” I bite.

He comes to his feet, standing over me in the constant reminder that he is built like a f*****g linebacker and I’m like a small child wanting his autograph or something. Still, I stare up at him like we’re face to face, matched in strength, and I fight to ignore his stunning tattoos that cover his body. He is far too attractive to look at me like this—and he knows it!

“You need to go to bed, Kitten. You’re cranky.”

“I’m an adult,” I sneer. “Stop telling me what to do. I’m trying to replace this damn backdoor, but he’s stuffed the system with so much useless code that it’s driving me crazy!”

“Okay, okay,” he says, calmer than before. He rests is hands on my shoulders, steadying my trembling, exhausted posture. “It’s going to be alright. Do you want me to look at it?”

“I don’t want you to mess up my system.”

His brow c***s. “What system would that be again?”

“I rigged the computer to scan the code until it comes across and indent.”

His brows furrow. “What the hell are you talking about? How did you do that?”

“It’s a complicated system, Dimitri. Don’t worry about it now. Is there any more coffee?”

He scoffs, turning to the monitor that is quickly scrolling through at least twelve pages of text in a single second. Whatever Alek had done to pack the motherboard with this nonsense while no one was watching is beyond me. Even then, I can’t help but g***n under my breath and escape to the kitchen.

I make a new cup of coffee. Dimitri follows me there after a moment of gawking.

“That’s incredible,” he sighs. “I don’t… how have you…”

“I made the system work for me. That’s what technology does, right?”

He looks more perplexed than before. “I haven’t seen a system like that before, though. It’s not normal. Is that something you created or…”

“Why, you wanna buy it?”

“Maybe,” he says, giving his hand away way too soon. “I’m just curious. It’s kind of handy. Can you program it to replace bugs?”

“I can have it do whatever I want,” I admit. “it’s not that hard to reprogram, but it is hard to get it up and running. I will admit that. But you couldn’t afford that system. It took five weeks of straight coding, Dimitri. You’d have a tough time paying me to duplicate it.”

He gives me a skeptical look. “You act like I’m broke, Kitten.”

“You live in a tower.”

“It’s the most expensive tower in town, let me tell you,” he banters playfully. “Guess how much I pay for this place a month and then tell me I can’t afford your system.”

I know this place has to be worth a lot, and I’ve seen his car and his expensive suits. There’s a gold watch on his wrist still, and I still glint with the memory of his diamond cufflinks on his satin suit. Even with all that, it’s too damn funny to watch him get frustrated.

“Five hundred.”

His brows nearly cross over as they furrow. “I hope you’re kidding, Kitten.”

“Of course, I am,” I gust at last, putting him out of his misery. “Will you relax? It was just a joke. I can’t sell you that software, though. That’s for real.”

“I can afford it, though.”

“It’s my personal work, Dimitri. I’ve been drilling at that system for years and I just got it to finally work for me. I can’t tell you how long I’ve stayed up past midnight fighting for it to work. I have to let it run its course and then I’ll dismantle it from your system.”

He seems upset, but doesn’t get to mention it, an incessant beeping coming from the next room. We both jump out of our spots and hurry to the desk in the bedroom, the screen displaying the gap in code with that mysterious link attached.

“Okay, this is going to be fun…” I mutter, highlighting it and watching the code read into the system. I don’t even hesitate, opening the backdoor to see what lies behind it. “What the hell is—”

“It’s a search engine?” Dimitri g****s. “That’s it? That’s the f*****g big secret?”

We both stare at the screen in awe, something heavy settling in my stomach while I sink into the chair. This can’t be right, but it is. It’s a damn bar with a little curser. There is no domain name, no online activity—just a search engine within the code of software that Alek sells for people to protect their data.

I hover my hands over the keys, unsure what to type into the blinking cursor. “What do you think I should do? Type more code into it? See what happens?”

“No, it can’t be that. It’s detached from the code, but still reading it from afar. It’s… it’s not a backdoor at all. It’s a one-way mirror.”

I notice his words and can tell he’s right almost instantly.

The coding that we just shifted through is still surrounding the cursor and the bar for searching something, but they aren’t interacting anymore. My software informs me there are no anomalies, like the search engine line of code we highlighted has disappeared. And yet, they still coexist.

“My head hurts,” I m**n, trembling with angst and exhaustion. “What do we do now?”

“I don’t know, exactly. Type something and see what happens.”

I give in, trying something as simple as pizza. The search engine honks a noise, and the word is ripped from the bar. I hesitate to type something else, afraid how many times we can mess up and still be able to access this thing. There is always a failsafe involved in code. It’s a virtual rabbit hole. It’s frustrating as hell, but I love every second of it.

“Here, let’s just think this over carefully, okay? What could need to be searched in this code?”

I can only shrug at first, pushing my hair off my forehead. “I don’t know. Locations of viruses, maybe loopholes in the system. It could be self-identifying problems for itself like artificial intelligence.”

“No, Alek has sworn off AI. He hates that something in his company might run things smoother than he could. It’s an ego problem, but I don’t actually disagree with him on it.”

“That’s surprising. Best friends with the enemy now?”

“Not even close, Kitten,” he warns. “Okay, try something else.”

“I don’t want it to be wrong, Dimitri. I could set off some kind of trap that would trace my system and catch us snooping in this code in the first place. I don’t need any more trouble than what we already have.”

He waves me off, thinking carefully over the options in this moment. “Oh, okay,” he says, a little lightbulb flicking on over his head. “I have the perfect idea. Type a name.”

“A name?”

“Yeah, just to see what happens. If the name has clearance, maybe it leads to another backdoor.”

“Wait, so it was a one-way mirror, now it’s another backdoor? I thought we were already inside.”

“You’re not making this any easier on me, Kitten. Just try it, unless you have a better idea.”

I shrug, about to type in a name when I realize one small issue. “I don’t know anyone’s name at work.”

“Are you serious? You’ve been there a week!”

“Yeah, but Alek has been keeping me busy, okay? That’s not my fault I haven’t been super social. I’m in tech! What point is there to be social? I already work with code all day long. I don’t need to seek out familiar minds and talk about code with them.”

“Try Alek’s name then.”

I give Dimitri some credit, and try his name, only to be met with the same noise. “Well, that doesn’t work.”

He goes silent while my brain wanders. I can’t help but think we’re close to something big, but I don’t know how to get there. Until then, I type in my name for fun, both of us inching back in horror as the screen changed to a dark page of text that builds into the biggest portfolio I’ve ever seen.

I hold my hand over my mouth to keep from screaming.

Every word that comes up isn’t just personal to me, but it hurts.

It lists my parents’ names, my siblings’ names, the address for where I used to live, and where I live now. It has my hometown listed, the places I used too frequently and the personal information that I carry around my everyday life. Maiden names, pet names, schoolteacher names…

My stomach aches with the shock of this replace, but more so in the confusion of it.

“What the f**k?”

“I don’t know, Kitten, but look,” he whispers, pointing to a small little box in the corner of the screen. Even when I scroll through the details of my life, the box stays. “It’s got a number and a dollar sign next to it.”

“Fifteen hundred,” I whisper, unsure what that’s supposed to mean. “Wait, why is there a price here? Look! It just went up to sixteen hundred. What is it doing? Is it making us do tha?t”

“Oh no,” he whispers, moving his mouse over the little box to expose an offer box with a green bid button underneath it. I shiver in angst, unsure what to do with that kind of sight. “F**k,” he growls. “The timer in the top corner, it’s almost out.”

“What does that mean? What does any of this mean, dammit?”

“The system is selling your information,” he bites. “Move out of my way, right now.”

I dive sideways, watching him type an outrageous number into the bidding box. The timer dies, the monitor beeps a few times, and a text box appears over the page of my personal information. Only Dimitri is close enough to read it. I am too much in shock to even think about what it might say. I lean on the window nearby, looking at the sheer drop to the sidewalk below.

My head spins more, and I melt to my knees, weeping ever so silently.

“Hey, it’s okay, I got the profile. It was a bid for your information. I won, though, so it’s okay. You’re safe, Kitten,” he whispers. I watch him perch on the floor before me, only to yank me forward and bury me into his chest while his arms hug my shoulders. “It’s okay, don’t be scared about that. This is good. Now we have something against Alek that we know is illegal.”

“I don’t care about that,” I muster the courage to say. “My information—”

“I got it back, it’s safe.”

“I don’t want to see it,” I admit. “I didn’t want you to see it either.”

“Why not, Kitten?”

Sniffling hard, I pull back from his warmth and let my tears flow freely. “Because I’m a disgrace. I’m an abandoned disgrace in my family and I didn’t want anyone to know that about me. This is my new life, dammit, my better life, and it’s ruined now that you know it all.”

“Hey, you have nothing to be ashamed of. Besides, I didn’t see anything too important, Izzy. It’s okay, I swear.”

Still, I’m too distraught with my past coming back from the grave to haunt me.

“F**k,” I grunt, crying into my lap while tears soak the wood floors where we both sit. “I hate myself.”

“Shut up, Kitten, and look at me.”

I do as he says, both of tired, wired with coffee, and in desperate need of a damn nap. Even then, there’s still some kick left in us, my body launching forward while his arms come to my h**s. I intend to embrace him again in an act of comfort, but we both read it wrong, our lips locking in a gentle, smooth k**s.

He pulls back slightly, wiping my face dry of tears. “You have nothing to hate, Kitten. You’re perfect.”

“Not nearly as perfect as I could be,” I admit.

“No one can be that perfect, though. Give yourself some credit, okay? You just found out that the biggest mogul in tech and security is selling people’s personal information to the highest bidder. That isn’t just amazing, but it’s groundbreaking, okay? You did something great. Let’s focus on that for now.”

I shake my head, butterflies armed with pins attached to their wings taking flight in my stomach. I can’t focus on anything else right now, not even with him telling me to do so. Instead, I focus on the man in front of me, the one clinging to my h**s while I’m sat up in his lap, and the growing tension between our bodies that I can’t ignore much longer.

Maybe it’s sleep deprivation, or the sudden spurt of adrenaline, but I attach my lips to his and don’t pull away again. He doesn’t either, working his hands under my blouse where I know he’s going to continue to the land of no return.

And good, that’s fine by me.

This life hasn’t been all that great for me lately, especially not before now. Why would I want to return here, the woman with just a tragic past and an even more turbulent future? I’ve lied to myself about my capabilities and my assets for far too long.

I’m nothing, but in his arms, with his body writhing against mine, I feel like something again.

Whatever it is, I want it. All of it. Right now.

Judging by the e******n brushing my inner thigh, I know for certain he wants it too.