Page 59 of Pretty Pink Poison
“Seems they’re still traveling the way they used to.”
“The house will probably be up for sale soon. Your father wants a bigger one.” He relayed information about my family like he was reading a report—facts I should have known but didn’t.
“You talked to him about us coming?”
Bane’s pale eyes slid to me like I’d said something ridiculous. “Of course. We’re all in business together.”
My lip curled. “You talk to my father regularly?”
“As much as necessary.”
Disgust rolled through me. “Figures.” We fell into a silence, him going back to his phone, me staring out the window, wondering if this was just another power play.
“You plan on giving me back my phone?” I finally asked.
He slid a brand-new one out of his pocket, setting it on my lap.
I pouted as I took the new one from him and said, “My old one had all my apps and—”
“And all your blood on it,” he finished.
Ugh. “Fair,” I said softly and pressed a button to light up the screen. On it, I saw all my regular apps. “Thanks for putting everything in here.”
I knew it was him. He was the one who would have had that attention to detail. No one else.
His features softened as he nodded, but he didn’t say much else. So, I pulled up my Oracle and started typing an entry rather than saying it out loud.
It didn’t work, Oracle. So now I’m back.It took much longer for a response to come in. The app then pinged that there was an update. I sighed and let it download as I glanced up at him.
He was watching me intently. “How much do you use that app?”
I took my time in answering him. “You tell me.” Bane never left a stone unturned, and I was positive with all the ways he responded to those entries that he was listening in some capacity to them over the last year. “Actually, tell me how you knew I was on my bathroom floor.”
“I think you know the answer.”
“How regularly did you hack Oracle to get my entries?”
“About as regularly as I needed to to get them in real fucking time.”
“I freaking knew you were.” I shoved at his shoulder. “Do you know how unhealthy it is for you to have me in the same resort as you and be listening to all my entries in an app while completely avoiding me in person for months?”
“Bianca, I’ve come to relish in the fact that we’re not healthy and never will be.”
“Not when what you’re doing to me is still, quite frankly, stalking.”
“Hacking an app to listen to you bitch and moan about everything?” He sucked on his teeth, “If that’s what you consider stalking, I’m doing much worse than that.”
“What exactly does that mean?”
“I bought and revamped Oracle.”
I blinked. “You what?”
“I bought it the day I found you on the floor.”
“No.” I frowned at him. “But that app’s huge. Millions of people have it. AI—”
“There’s no more AI. I’m hiring certified therapists and psychiatrists to respond to those in need.”
