Page 62 of Hard Wired

“Most of my friends, ex-friends now, would’ve been pissed if I ended the party too soon. I was supposed to keep the good times rolling at all costs.”

She studied him. “You don’t have to do that with me.”

“I know that in theory. But it’s old habits.” He smiled sadly. “I’ll let you in on a secret. I don’t actually want to be the racehorse out to stud. That’s what a lot of people would expect me to want, and sometimes I forget the difference.”

She was trapped in her thoughts. If…if…if…

“Sylvie? You sure you’re okay?”

“I was just thinking. About what you said.” She touched his cheek. “I don’t want to use you, Dominic.”

If she could only see into his soul. Know the truth. Tears stung her eyes and nose. She swallowed them down.

“My brothers just call me Nic. You could call me that, too.”

“Okay.”

“You don’t have to sleep over if you’d rather head home.”

“No, I like being here.” Every word was a knife she was plunging into her own heart. “With you.”

His hand reached for hers. “I mentioned my younger brother before. Raymond. You asked if I was worried about him, and I didn’t really answer. I didn’t want to tell you. But I’m very worried. I’m afraid my uncle is going to hurt Raymond to get back at me.”

“What are you going to do?”

Dominic squeezed his eyes shut. “I don’t know. I feel like I have no good options. No matter what I do, somebody’s going to get hurt. Maybe not physically. But they’ll feel betrayed.”

The lump in her throat was becoming a boulder. This man sitting next to her, he couldn’t be faking. There was just no way. She refused to believe it. Which meant…

There was only one liar in this room, and it wasn’t him.

“Couldn’t you talk to Lana in the DA’s Office? She has all kinds of contacts. I know she wants to help you.”

His gaze was wary. “But I don’t think she can. Nobody can. So, what do I do?”

Sylvie was asking herself that same question. “You’re not going to kill anyone, are you?”

He huffed a laugh. “No.”

She’d been ready to tell him not to do anything illegal, either. But who was she to make such demands? She broke laws all the time when she hacked into government databases or private networks.

“Then choose whichever course will cause the least harm,” she said, “while protecting the people you care most about. Even if someone feels betrayed, that’s better than having lives threatened.”

The Syndicate threatened lives all the time, especially now that his uncle was in charge. Dominic had just admitted it. If she had an opportunity to stop the Syndicate, she had to take it. No matter how much it pained her.

“That’s what I’m thinking, too,” he said. “But I still hate it.”

Me too. So much.

They held each other for a while before saying goodnight.

Sylvie got under the covers and stared into the dark. She’d already glanced around this floor while she was supposed to be getting ready for bed. Dominic had a laptop in an office down the hall. Once the house was quiet, she’d sneak down there and plug in the flash drive.

It would be over with soon enough. Maybe once it was done, this guilt wouldn’t be consuming her from the inside out.

Or maybe this feeling would just get worse.

I have to protect the people I care about, she reminded herself. Yet Dominic was starting to become one of those people.

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