“Like gaming.”
I screw up my face in a lopsided grin.
“Exactly. Gaming is the perfect substitute. That’s why my games are so popular. I design levels the gamer needs to break into the same way a hacker would. They test the best minds.” I smirk. “Drives Gabriel mad.”
“Okay, but I seem to be missing something.”
I shrug. “This one particular hack, I was careless, and I got caught. Didn’t hide myself or cover my tracks well enough.”
“When, how?”
I move back to my chair and sit down, resting my elbows on my knees and placing my chin on my clasped hands.
“Just after you got married.”
“What the hell, Pen?”
Elijah jumps up and starts pacing. “Why is this the first I’m hearing about it?”
“You were kind of busy if you remember.”
“That’s not an excuse,” he tells me, his nostrils flaring. His arms sweeping. “You were my friend. I might have been able to help. Dad might have been able to.”
I ignore his words. Robert helped me, but that’s not something Elijah will ever hear from my lips.
“Calm down,” I say.
He stops, glaring in my direction. I incline my head.
“I couldn’t tell you. They made me an offer. Either join a government team and work for them pro bono. Or go to prison. The choice was a no-brainer.”
Elijah pushes off the table and paces, a variety of emotions flitting over his face.
Eventually, he stops and spins towards me.
“What did you do for the government? I take it, it isourgovernment?”
I laugh, earning myself another scowl.
“Now, what I did... that’s something I can’t tell you. That would land me in jail and you in a whole heap of trouble. As for the other. Yes, it was our government.”
“I don’t understand.”
“You don’t need to. It is what it is,” I tell him truthfully.
There’s more, but I have made other promises I will never break.
“Now you owe them again? Because of me?”
“Maybe? Maybe not. I’m a pretty good negotiator. I’m also a powerful businesswoman in my own right these days.”
Elijah drops into the chair next to me, and I straighten up.
He takes my hand in his. His eyes lock with mine, his thumb tracing circles over the back of my hand.
“I’m so sorry, Pen. I’m sorry I wasn’t there for you.”
I turn my hand over, interlinking our fingers.
