Charlotte would wake up.
She would open her eyes and she would know I had been here the whole time. Because that’s what sisters did. They were there for each other.
No matter what.
A hand touched my arm and I startled at the contact.
“You should go home and get some rest. I’ll sit with her.” My mom looked as tired as I felt. Her eyes drawn and her skin pasty. I had been sitting with Charlotte since she was admitted to the hospital eight hours ago. Mom had gone home over an hour ago to shower and change clothes. From the state of her hair and the deep creases on the side of her cheek, it seemed she had fallen asleep.
My eyes drifted back to my sister.
Charlotte was stable but still critical.
And she hadn’t woken up.
What was I going to do if she never woke up?
The thought kept wriggling its way into my brain but I wouldn’t allow it to take root. I would never allow myself to accept the unacceptable.
I had to be confident and full of hope and sure she’d come back to us. It was the only way I’d get through this.
“I’m fine, Mom. I don’t want to leave her.” I kissed the back of Char’s hand and gently laid it down. I leaned back in the chair, rubbing my eyes. They burned with fatigue.
I had other things I needed to think about. Toxicwrath’s threat loomed over me like a dark shadow. I had been able to push it to the back of my mind since getting to the hospital. Charlotte needed my focus.
But now, with exhaustion setting in, I was feeling the tendrils of panic wrap around my insides.
And there was Mason to consider.
“Who the hell are you, Hannah?”
I pulled my phone out of my pocket, staring at the dark screen. The urge to call him was intense. My chest felt too tight and all I wanted was to hear his voice. The soft way he said my name.
Mason would make me feel better.
Maybe then I’d be able to breathe around the lump in my throat.
He had been my safe place when I had been dancing in the storm. Chaos of my own making.
“Will you always tell me the truth?”
All he had ever demanded from me was honesty. And I had promised to give it to him. Only it had been a sham. An illusion.
And now he knew it.
“This wasn’t all an act, was it, Hannah?”
I let out a deep, rattling sigh, shoving my phone back into my pocket.
I’d have to deal with Mason soon. He was onto me. I just didn’t know how much he knew. At the very least he knew about the root kit. At the most, he possibly knew about everything.
Pushing him away was meant to keep him in the dark. To lessen the likelihood of him finding out who I really was.
I was supposed to sever the tie between us.
Now it seemed I’d have to talk to him again. Reengage. Step back into a role I had only just vacated.
I felt a twinge of excitement at the prospect of seeing Mason again, whatever the reason. It fluttered a little wildly before being stamped out by my guilt. My shame.
My overwhelming panic about…everything else.
Mom pulled up a chair beside mine, her hand still heavy on my arm, pulling me out of my thoughts.
“Sorry I was gone so long. I sat down for a moment and the next thing I knew I was waking up on the couch.” Mom ran a hand through her graying hair.
“It’s okay. Not much is going on here anyway.”
“No change?” she asked, her eyes scanning my unmoving sister’s face.
I shook my head. “No. The doctor was in about twenty minutes ago. He says there’s no change. They want to take her for another CAT scan later today.”
Mom closed her eyes briefly, as if in pain. “Okay. I guess that’s good. So we know how bad it is.”
“Yeah, they want to see about brain damage…” I didn’t finish the sentence. I couldn’t. Neither of us wanted to focus on any of that. Not before we had to.
“Maybe you could call Mason. I’m sure he’d want to be here for you—”
“No, I’m not calling Mason,” I said a little too loudly. A little too sharply.
My mother frowned, picking up on my tone. “Why? What happened?”
I moved my arm, her hand falling away. “I broke up with Mason.” I sounded defensive. Ready for a fight. “It just wasn’t…right.” The lie tasted bitter on my tongue.
Mason was too right.
That had been the biggest problem.
But I couldn’t tell my mother that, of course.
“Instead of dragging things out, I cut it off. So, no, I won’t be calling him.” I waited for the scolding. For the disappointment. The predictable condemnation for pushing away a man that obviously cared about me deeply. And my mother wouldn’t be telling me anything that I didn’t already think myself.
I was surprised when she didn’t say any of the things I expected from her.
Instead she leaned over and put her arm around my shoulders, squeezing lightly before letting go. For once I didn’t feel the need to pull away from her.
“I’m sorry, sweetie,” was all she said, her voice soft and sincere. She meant it.
I glanced at her exhausted worn face and felt a small measure of relief that at least, from her, explanations weren’t necessary.
My phone buzzed in my pocket.
My heart fluttered briefly. Could it be—?
I hated those fleeting seconds before I looked at my phone. I hated how the hope blossomed and wrapped its greedy tendrils around my heart.
Hope was an awful emotion.
Because it devastated you when it died.
And mine was swallowed up with even worse feelings.
Rage.
Fear.
I turned on the phone and stared at the message. My hope crashed and broke into a thousand tiny pieces.
Ticktock. You won’t know what hit you. Are you sorry yet?
The smiley faces taunted me. I clenched my hands into tight fists. The restless burn to eliminate a possible threat smoldered, unchecked.
A new purpose blossomed in my gut.
A new vengeance.
Toxicwrath was now an enemy.
I had always listened to my instincts. So why had I silenced them when I knew something was wrong with my anonymous partner?
I felt angry with myself for the situation I now found myself in. Disgusted with my lack of sense.
I should have known better. Hadn’t Rose taught me about the dangers of trusting?
Rose.
She had gone silent. Too silent. After blowing back into my life trumpeting her all-important information, why had she now gone off the grid again?
It made me suspicious.
And wary.
I got to my feet in a rush. Mom’s eyes widening slightly. “Are you okay, Hannah?”
I tried to give her a smile. “I think you’re right. I should go home and get some rest. I can’t do anything more for Char right now,” I said quickly. I felt clammy and sick.
Toxicwrath’s text felt like a weight in my pocket. I had to act fast.
What if it was too late?
What damage had he inflicted in the hours I had been by Charlotte’s side? I didn’t want to leave my sister but if I didn’t, I was terrified what would happen. To me. To everyone I cared about.
“I need to sleep,” I said, hoping my mother didn’t hear the tremor in my voice. The shaky uncertainty of my words. The lies.
All the damn lies.
I thought of Mason and felt the guilt again. The regret.
I was tired of the duplicity.
I leaned down and gave my mother a quick peck on the cheek, shocking us both. “I’ll be back soon,” I assured her.
I started to turn and leave the room when she grabbed my hand. Her eyes were worried. Not just for my sister.
But for me.
“Are you sure everything is okay? If you want to talk about what happened with Mason, I’m here.”
> I wished briefly for the simplicity of relationship drama. Of having nothing more going on in my life than a breakup.
But my concerns were deeper and darker than that.
I extracted my fingers from her grasp.
“Maybe another time.” I tried to give her a smile. It wasn’t much of one, but it seemed to do the trick. Mom turned back to Charlotte, giving her youngest daughter her full attention.
I gazed at my sister a few moments longer before anxiety tore at my gut.
I left the hospital quickly and hurried to my car. My head was full of too many things as I made my way home.
I had to prioritize my actions.
First thing I needed to do was move the tracker software. I couldn’t risk it being in my home a moment longer.
Toxicwrath wanted it desperately and seemed willing to tear my world apart to get it. Why did he want it so badly?
He had hinted at wanting to use it for financial gain but there had to be more to it than that. Instinctively I knew that whatever it was, it was bad.
Really bad.
So I had to get the software to someplace safe. Someplace my shadow partner wouldn’t be able to locate. Then I had to do damage control. To see how far Toxicwrath’s reach actually went. What sort of problems he could create for me.
Who is Toxicwrath?
I needed to know who I was up against if I was to know how to fight him.
That meant doing what I do best. Infiltrate.
But I didn’t feel giddy at the prospect. I felt cold.
Because there was Mason and the fallout of my deception.
My stomach clenched. My ears buzzed with the whooshing of my anxious heartbeat.
Mason.
“I just want to know!”
His agonized voice pleading on the other side of my front door the previous night kept replaying in my mind.
“Who the hell are you, Hannah?”
Who was I?
A liar.
A criminal.
For the first time I wasn’t able to think about myself in terms I was comfortable with. Ways I could be proud of.
Freedom Overdrive felt like a burden now. One that had turned my world upside down. One that had wrought unbelievable anguish.
And for what?
Justice?
At what cost?
I knew that Mason was determined to get answers. He wouldn’t stop until he got them.
The thought both thrilled and frightened me.
What would Mason do if he had found out who I really was?
I pulled up in front of my house and stopped. I let my car idle. I couldn’t get out.
What would Mason do?
I stared out the window. Toward my front door.
At the blond-haired man standing on my front porch. His broad shoulders rigid. His jaw tense.
Our eyes met and my mouth went dry.
Ice blue. Cold. Frigid.
There was no warmth in Mason’s gaze as he stared at me.
This was the face of a man betrayed.
But not a man destroyed.
He was the predator who had finally found his prey….
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Exploited (Zero Day #1) Page 30
