Page 66 of Divine II

“You don’t need to look for anything. I just need you to have the scrambler on you. You’ll have to stay there for at least two hours so I can figure out how to get into their system. It shouldn’t take that long, but I have to be sure.”

“I’ll take it. I’m almost willing to do anything to get out of this shit.”

“Just play along a little longer. You know we’re not going to let anything happen to you, sis,” Maven assured me.

“I know that, but I’m worried about Liam, too.”

“He’s a big boy, Divine,” my brother told me.

“I don’t care, Mave. We can’t leave him hanging. Anything he did, he did for me.”

“I know, D.”

“We’re not leaving him hanging, Divine. Just because you’re our main concern doesn’t mean that we’re not thinking about him, too. That’s why I need you to get in Whitmore’s house for a while. My device will disarm his encryption system long enough for me to access the files and trace where they’ve been sent.”

“Just give it to me. I’ll get it in there.”

“Hey, girl. Shy told me you were here,” Chime said as she strolled out to us.

“Yeah, I finally made it over here.”

“You want something to eat? Come on in the house. I don’t know why they love it out here.”

“Girl, I thought you’d never ask. I’m not hungry, but I don’t even sit outside at my own house.”

“Since when do you turn down food?” Chime asked, side eyeing me as we walked back in the house.

Since this morning sickness started kicking my ass.

Playing sick to get out of the Whitmore charity dinner took no effort at all. We concocted a plan to get into Zane’s house so Psalm could hack into their system. I didn’t know how it all worked, but I could do my part. I started with having Oneal drive me to the party but telling Zane that I wanted to leave with him.The way his face lit up let me know that he thought he was going to get lucky.

“Are you good?” he asked as I stepped out of the bathroom.

Throwing up wasn’t part of the plan, but it was working in my favor. I’d already told Zane I wasn’t feeling well in case I wanted to bail. It was proving to be true.

“I think I might have food poisoning. I tried this new food truck today.”

“You wanna get out of here?”

I wanted to say hell yes, but I knew that I needed to play it cool.

“I don’t want to ruin your night. If I don’t feel any better, I’ll have Oneal to drive me home.”

“Nonsense. I just need to holler at my dad for a second, then we can go. I’ll stop by the corner store and grab you a ginger ale or some antacids. You still want to come back to my place, right?”

“Sure as long as you don’t mind taking care of a sick girl,” I said, giving him a weak smile.

“I got you,” he said, taking my hand and leading the way to the small crowd where his dad was regaling people with an animated story.

Zane and I stood among the others until his dad was done talking. I was too preoccupied to listen to anything he had to say, but I was tuned in enough to laugh on cue with everyone else.

“Dad, you know Divine Gold. I wanted you to finally meet her.”

“Good evening, Ms. Gold. I knew your mother. I’m familiar with your family. That’s why I have no idea what you’re doing with this knucklehead,” Mr. Whitmore said, never cracking a smile.

“Nice to meet you,” I said, extending my hand.

I expected him to shake my hand, but he kissed it instead. “Enjoy your evening, Ms. Gold. Hopefully, my son doesn’t run you off before I have an opportunity to get to know you better.”

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