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“Naughty girl.” He nips at my collarbone, soothing the sting with his tongue. “I think you need a reminder of who you belong to.”

“Remind me.” I scrape my nails down his back, feeling the muscles bunch and flex beneath his shirt. “You’ve been gone like forever.”

“A week. I thought that’s hardly forever.”

“Shut up and take me.”

I fell in love with the fantasy of Chris and the thing is, Connor made it real.

Chapter 48

Epilogue Connor

“Ava Milton, you are in so much trouble, young lady!” Mary’s voice cuts through the low hum of servers like a knife, her heels clicking an angry staccato against the concrete floor as she storms into my office.

I don’t even have to look up from my screens to know she’s got that ‘I mean business’ expression on her face, the one that makes grown men quake.

Fuck, she’s hot.

I lean back in my chair, lacing my fingers behind my head as I take in the sight of my wife in all her furious glory. Even after nearly two decades together, she still takes my breath away. Especially when she’s pissed.

“What’s she done now?” I already pull up the tracking program on my laptop.

“Shesnuck out. Again.” Mary braces her hands on my desk, leaning over to glare at the screen. “I swear, that girl is going to be the death of me. Where is she?”

I type in the commands, watching the map zoom in on our daughter’s location. Or rather, locations.

The little red dot that represents Ava is blinking all over the place, jumping from one spot to another faster than I can keep track.

What the hell?

I frown, tapping at the keys with increasing frustration. This isn’t right. The system is glitching, the data scrambled and nonsensical. It’s like someone’s deliberately fucking with the signal, bouncing it off multiple towers to obscure her real whereabouts.

A slow grin spreads across my face. Oh, he didn’t.

“Connor?” Mary’s voice snaps me out of my thoughts. “What’s wrong? Why isn’t it working?”

I school my features into a neutral expression, but I can’t quite keep the pride from my voice. “It seems our son has been practicing his hacking skills.”

Mary’s eyes widen, then narrow. “Nico did this?”

“Looks like it. Kid’s getting good.”

“Good? He’s interfering with our ability to keep track of his sister! This is serious!”

“I know, I know.” I hold up my hands in a placating gesture. “I’ll talk to him, straighten this out.”

“You’d better. I swear, he’s too much like you sometimes.”

My boy, following in his old man’s footsteps. Chip off the old block.

“Stop looking so damn proud of yourself.” Mary swats at my shoulder. “This isn’t a good thing. We need to be able to trust our kids, not have them constantly trying to outsmart us.”

“You’re right, you’re right.” I stand, pulling her into my arms. She resists for a moment, still stiff with anger, but eventually melts into me, her head coming to rest on my chest. “I’ll handle it, okay? We’ll get to the bottom of this.”

“Okay. But I’m coming with you. I want to hear what our little genius has to say for himself.”

I press a kiss to her hair, inhaling the familiar scent of her shampoo. “Wouldn’t have it any other way, Blue.”

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