Page 8 of Barely Breathing
Jack grumbled under his breath.“He knows something’s off, or he wouldn’t have called me.”
“I’ve never been good at hiding anything from him,” she admitted.
Griff could tell she was nervous.He had to restrain himself from stepping forward to offer his help.
“You want to keep him away from the trouble you’re in?”Jack’s penetrating gaze seemed to search inside her.“I can tell something scared you enough to bring you to my door, but this isn’t the place to talk.Let’s meet first thing in the morning, and you can fill us in on everything.”
Honor nodded.“Of course.I apologize.I shouldn’t have crashed the party.I only meant to find Stace tonight and have her help me set up a meeting with you.”
“You don’t need Stace to set up a meeting with me.”
“It seemed the easiest way, and I wanted to see her,” Honor replied.
Jack’s gaze flicked behind them for a second.
“No saving you from this,” he said, but a smile tugged at his lips as Roman joined them.Thankfully, Griff’s mom wasn’t with him at the moment.
“You were in my system for over two minutes,” Roman said, his gaze laser focused on Honor.
“Two minutes forty-five seconds.”
She seemed awfully proud of that.Griff remembered Roman and Chetan discussing a security breach.Roman had contained it, and Jack had made a few phone calls and said everything was under control.Was she the one who’d hacked into their files?Damn, he really wanted to know more about her now.
“I needed to make sure you were who I thought you were,” she answered, but there was guilt on her face.
Jack stared at her.The woman didn’t back down an inch, and she never dropped her gaze from Jack’s.He knew grown men who couldn’t do that.
“You were told to leave Midnight, Inc.alone.I take offense at someone putting together files on me and my men.No matter who they call family.”
She swallowed but kept her gaze firm.“I understand, and again, I apologize.I could say it was to make sure Stace is in good hands with you, but there’s no need to lie.We both know I need your help.While my methods may be questionable, I promise you I only did what I thought I needed to.It goes no further than me.”
“You’re dad taught you how to hack?”Jack asked.
“Yes, sir.”
“He did a good job.Maybe too good,” Jack mused then shook his head as if irritated he’d admitted that aloud.“Respect for your dad is the only reason you aren’t behind bars right now.Hacking into secure files is illegal and dangerous.”
“Not doing so can be just as dangerous,” Honor whispered, and Griff knew he wasn’t the only one who noted the fear washing over her.”
“You’ll tell me everything tomorrow,” Jack ordered, not waiting for the nod she gave before turning to Tyler.“Did Zach ask you to keep an eye on her?”
Tyler nodded, and Honor shook her head.
“I can’t pull my dad into this.”Her gaze bounced back and forth between Tyler and Jack.“He’s in the middle of something important.I know you understand what that means.If he’s there, he—people are safe.I can leave.If you want me to leave, just say the word.No one has to know I was here.Stace hasn’t even seen me.Please.”
Uttering that one word seemed to cost her a lot.If Griff could see it, he knew Jack would, as well.
Tyler shook his head.“I can’t let you leave.I’m involved whether you like it or not.If you run, I’ll have no choice but to call your dad.”
“Fuck.”Her whispered word wrapped around Griff.Yeah, that was exactly what he’d like to do with her.Damn, he’d never had it this bad.And never this quickly.
“You don’t need to leave.Let me make some excuses, and we’ll head over to my office and chat.Tyler can come with us,” Jack said.
“No offense, but I’d rather Tyler isn’t involved.”
“What?”Tyler didn’t look happy to hear that.
“You walked away.Stay gone, Tyler.”
