“You were surfing the dark web and didn’t think to lock the fucking keyboard?” His comeback is so fast, whiplash may be inevitable.
“Baby on board. No swearing.” Rose covers Mikey’s ears, but Sam doesn’t lose a beat.
“Catrina must’ve hit some function keys when she rolled on the computer.”
“Sugar… I, I…” The former SEAL’s eyes start to water but he can’t hold back the erupting laugh. “The cat? Seriously? Again?”
I have no idea what they’re referring to and raise my brows at Hands, who let’s me in on the joke. “Their feline is a demon from hell. It was a gift from Frankie-the-Hitman.”
I’m not sure if he’s pulling my leg and as I ponder, Sam points at her laptop. “I did everything right. I used electrical tape to block the camera and logged in using a VPN. It’s not like I gave them my email or anything. We’re perfectly safe.”
In the living room, a bead of sweat rolls off Rose’s forehead and she bites her lower lip. Clearly, she’s hiding something.
So, while Suds and Sam kiss and make up, I grab my suspect’s upper arm and walk her to the nearest bedroom.
“What did you do?” I tuck her chin and make her meet my gaze.
“I maybe, might have… entered my email into a form.” Grimacing, she glances to the floor.
“You need to tell them.” My heart races. This could be really bad and the clock is ticking.
“But Sam could lose her job.” Tone pleading, she clutches my arm.
“Better her livelihood than her life. The kid is in danger too. What the feck were ya thinkin’?” I can’t remember the last time my dad’s Irish temper spewed from my mouth but hell, this shit is serious.
When she wipes away a tear, I stop in the doorway, my heart strings tugging because I must tell her family. “Hey, I’m here for you. We’ll get through this.”
Suds has his arm around his wife in the kitchen and they both look up as I push the dark-web-infiltrator in front of me. “Rose has something to say.”
She takes a deep breath and blurts it out as if one word. “I-may-have-entered-my email-to-the-dark-web.”
The mouths of everyone in the room, including the cat, drop open.
“Why in God’s name would you do such a thing?” Sam is the first to be able to form a coherent sentence.
Rose looks to her for sympathy. “Hey, to be fair, I didn’t know you entered the dark side.”
“Web.” When Suds corrects her, she waves him away, and steps closer to his wife.
“Whatever. And secondly, remember how you’ve been searching for a Smart Sissy doll? I had sixty seconds to bid. I thought you were on Etsy or eBay or something.” A few tears drip from the sides of her eyes. “I am so, so, sorry.”
Catrina meows and curls around Suds’ legs. “No sucking up. You are in deep shi-”
“Kitty litter.” Sam finishes for him and points to their son, Mikey, taking it all in.
Gabe shakes his head. “You guys need to move to a safe house. It doesn’t take much to map an email to a physical address.”
“But I didn’t see anything. All the faces were memes. Why would they care if I joined their stupid meeting?” Rose’s tone rises and I fear there’s more she’s not saying.
“Out with it.”
“Ah… A man said ever-something, some numbers and some digits. No big deal.”
Suds rolls his eyes and lifts Mikey into his arms. “Sam, pack up. We’re leaving. Hands, you keep your eye on Mia. Wheels, you take the web-crasher.”
“Wait. I have a bodyguard downstairs. I’ll call Uncle Vinny, too. I’ll be fine. This place is alarmed like Fort Knox.” Sam’s cousin has no idea how deeply she stepped in shit.
“Yo. Wazzup?” The male version of the three cousins pops up through the hole in the hallway.
