Page 17 of Devil
“The night of the data breach?”
“Yes?” Devil prompted.
“There wasn’t a power issue at the server farm, and the system never went down,” Cyn said. Which meant Darius’s story about the power glitch had been a lie.
“And?” she pressed. She knew Cyn well enough to know she wasn’t done yet.
“That lab he was cleaning when you arrived? The one he said had the water issue that triggered the alarm—the alarm that brought him, then you, to the fourth floor?”
“Yes?”
“That never happened. I checked all the security systems. He made it up. Specifically, he made it up to get you to the fourth floor so you could see what was happening in Lab 14,” she added, unnecessarily.
Devil didn’t ask why Darius had done all those things. She had a pretty good idea. An idea she’d been trying to ignore, although that seemed no longer possible. She let out a deep breath. “You think Darius is another Joe or Gavin, don’t you?” Meaning he’d been sent by Franklin to help them—her.
“The thought did cross my mind, yes.”
“Have you talked to Franklin?”
Cyn snorted. “Outside of family events where lots of booze is involved, have you ever known me to willingly talk to Franklin?”
Devil smiled at that. It was a bit of an exaggeration. Cyn and her uncle actually got on well. But her point was well taken—very rarely did Cyn reach out to Franklin first when it came to work-related topics.
“You’re saying I should ask him.” It was a statement, not a question.
“Darius,” Cyn clarified. “Ask Darius. You know Franklin won’t say shite until he absolutely has to.”
In the not-so-deep recesses of her mind, Devil had known that she’d have to talk to Darius. Still, she considered putting it off. What did it matter to her if Franklin had sent him? If his job was to be her backup when needed, then he could keep doing what he was doing. He’d already demonstrated he was capable of performing that function without the two of them being buddy-buddy. Franklin’s confirmation wouldn’t really change anything.
“Talk to him,” Cyn said as if reading Devil’s thoughts.
“To what end, Cyn?” she countered.
Cyn let out a long-suffering sigh. “Stop being a coward and talk to him. At least now you know his interest in you isn’t about the money.”
Maybe. There was no reason it couldn’t be about both, but Devil held her tongue. During dinner, he’d spoken nothing but the truth when she’d asked him about his family and his career and the myriad of other things they’d talked about. Her instinct was telling her he was an honorable man andnotinterested in her because of her money. But she wasn’t ready to trust him yet, at least not enough to bring him into her life more than he apparently already was.
Did she trust him otherwise, though?Thatquestion was the only reason she was contemplating talking to him. Gavin and Joe had brought their own unique perspectives and experiences to their group, and they weregoodmen. For her own reasons, Devil had no interest in ending up in a relationship like Joe and Cyn or Six and Gavin. She wasn’t even sure she’d know how to have one with a man like Darius, whose voice filled with love and affection when he spoke of his family. But that didn’t mean he didn’t have good skills that were worth embracing.
She crossed her arms and stared at a bird fighting a breeze. “Fine, I’ll talk to him. I’ll see if he’s available after work. I’ll probably stay in town tonight.”
“At Smith House?”
Devil narrowed her eyes at the question. “Of course.”
“Alone.”
“Not going there.”
“All I’m saying is that he’s a good-looking man and if Franklin sent him, he’s two-for-two on sending men who meet all our needs—well, mine and Six’s.”
“Stop.”
“You doth protest too much,” Cyn said.
Devil did something she never did, but only because no one was looking: she rolled her eyes. “At one point, before I even knew who he was, I would have been happy to jump on that train. But I’m not you and I’m not Six and you know exactly what I’m saying.”
Cyn paused. For about two seconds. “You’re not your family, either, Devil.”
