Page 37 of Deadly Hacker
Rad replied, “What do you think?”
She frowned a little. “Something secretive. Definitely dangerous.”
“Why’s that?” he prompted.
“You carry a gun and you know how to handle it. You seem to have a lot of disposable income for someone our age. You didn’t tell me what you do, even though you know what I do for work. You went to Harvard, but you’re not a lawyer or a doctor. I thought you were in business, but what kind of business, I don’t know. There are big, scary-looking guys guarding your room, like they expect another attack,” she listed off. “What does it mean, Rad? Are you, like, a spy?”
He chuckled and shook his head. “I don’t work for any government agencies. In fact, most of what I do lies outside the law.”
Her eyes went big. “You’re a criminal.”
Rad didn’t shy away from the term. “Yes,” he confirmed.
“You hurt people?”
He nodded. “Sometimes.”
“Bad people?”
“Always,” he asserted.
“Like the gunman.”
“Yes. He’s done for, by the way. You’ll never see him again. No one will,” Rad growled. “He may have thought his connection to my boss would spare his life, but he’s wrong.”
But Emma Jean was more interested in unraveling Rad’s secret life.
“You shot him in the arm and the leg. Like an expert marksman. You collaborate with the authorities when necessary, but you’re not an officer yourself. And that guy who hurt you… he talked about the Bratva. Rad, it sounds like you’re in the mafia or something,” she said.
When he didn’t laugh or correct her, Emma Jean’s heart pounded faster.
“I’m right, aren’t I?” she murmured.
“You’re a smart girl. I couldn’t hide it from you forever even if I wanted to,” he said.
“Oh my god,” she whispered.
“Are you afraid of me now, Emma Jean? Does this change everything you thought about me?” Rad asked.
She bit her lip, contemplating his words. She searched her own soul for any hesitation, any reason to run away. But she came up empty. The truth was that she trusted him.
“No. I feel the same,” she admitted. “I don’t even care if that makes me silly or reckless. I think I know what kind of man you really are.”
He grinned, lighting up his whole face. “You’re not going to run away?”
She smiled and shook her head. Her curls bounced all over the place. “I’m not going anywhere. I’m staying by your side until you get out of here, and then I’m going to help you recover by whatever means necessary.”
“Thank god. My elaborate plot to get free yoga lessons is complete,” he joked.
Emma Jean rolled her eyes. “You know, there are much simpler ways to woo a girl than this.”
“So, you admit that it’s working? I’m wooing you successfully?”
“Oh, like you don’t know what you’re doing. I thought you were a ladies’ man,” she teased back.
He gave her a deep, thoughtful look. “I used to be. But not since I met you. It’s totally different, wooing a girl I’m actually in love with.”
Her heart skipped to hear those words. “In love?” she breathed. Fireworks exploded somewhere in the city and deep inside her heart.
