“I’m not—” Shep bit back his words and took in a deep breath before meeting my gaze again. “I’m gonna ask you this once, and you need to be honest with me.”
“Yes, I’ll fuck you this time. No need to beg.”
Shep didn’t crack a smile. Instead, he took his phone from his pocket, pulled something up, and then turned it around to face me. As he hit play, he said, “What the fuck is this?”
I recognized the building instantly but was more than a little surprised to see myself walking out of it…only seconds before it exploded.
My brows shot up as the video ended. “Huh. I think I’d remember blowing up a building.”
“Are you saying you didn’t do this?”
“Come on, it’s obviously fake.”
Shep hit play again, and I rolled my eyes as I watched me walk off, and then BAM. The whole thing went up in a cloud of smoke.
“Impressive. What do you think was used? RDX? TNT?”
“This isn’t fucking funny, Theo. What did you do?”
I sputtered out a laugh at his serious look. “You think I did that? Seriously?”
“Are you saying you didn’t?”
“You want me to spell it out for you? No, I didn’t rig explosives in that building to go off only seconds after I walked out of it. I’m not an idiot.” I moved past him, grabbed a pair of jogger pants from the bureau, and took my sweet-ass time pulling them on. Let Shep enjoy the view and the reminder of what we’d done yesterday. I sure hadn’t forgotten, not with the delicious ache I’d be feeling for days.
When he didn’t attack me from behind—dammit—I turned back around and crossed my arms.
“Is that why you’re here? To accuse me of starring in a fake video?” I snorted. “Where did you get that shit, anyway?”
“We all got it.”
I didn’t move, didn’t blink. “All of you?”
“Yes. Late last night, and it made it through Alessio’s firewalls, so it’s coming from someone who knew how to get to us.”
“Huh.” Thatwasstrange, but it just proved there were people out there with too much time on their hands.
Shep moved toward me, slowly, like he was approaching an animal he didn’t want to spook. “So that’s it, then? You weren’t anywhere near this building in the last month?”
I let out a whistle and shook my head. “Wow. Is that what everyone thinks? My own brothers think I’m a hothead blowing shit up?”
“I didn’t say that?—”
“But you don’t believe me.” If he did, he wouldn’t be questioning me like he thought I was capable of it. “It’s not me. I don’t know what else to tell you.”
“How about where you were the past couple of weeks?”
“Are you fucking kidding me? I’m not reporting to you like some wandering child. Plus”—I shrugged and walked around the bed to where my phone sat on the charger—“there’s a pretty quick way to verify my whereabouts.”
“Something I’m sure Alessio is looking into. But you could clear it up for me right now by telling me instead of?—”
“Making you wait for the tracking data?” I cocked my head to the side as though thinking about it. “How about fuck you?”
“That’s really mature, Theo.”
“Not really what I was aiming for. But next time you talk to Alessio, ask him if there’s anyone out there that can do a deep fake as good as him, because clearly that’s what this is.”
Shep ran a hand through his hair and turned away from me, pacing the length of the room. “Listen, I get it. I’d be pissed if you were all questioning me. But I have to ask.”
