The tracking pixel shows a callback domain and a short-lived handshake URL, an endpoint that proves Chase touched Mika’s messages from an internal machine. With more care, I find stale sessions, cached tokens, passwords, and an SSH agent socket that has been used recently enough. Taken all together, they give me a credible way to get to Chase without him knowing it’s Mika’s machines or even me.
“Hey.” The gruff voice, rich with smoke and gravel, comes from behind me.
I turn on my stool.
River stands shirtless in the doorway, his eyes still heavy with sleep. Jeans, unbuttoned, cling to his hips.
“You should have stayed asleep a little longer. You’ve only slept a few hours.”
He rubs a hand over his face as he walks towards me. “Was missing you.”
“Sweet talker.”
When he reaches me, he wraps his arms around me and kisses me with as much feeling as he did in bed, cocooning the two of us in the safety of his arms.
“Should we buy this house?” River says suddenly.
“What?”
He smiles. “You heard me. Should we buy this house? I think it would be perfect. It’s big enough and has plenty of land. It’s close to the stables and the clubhouse. We get the added bonus of club protection. And the view is pretty spectacular.”
I look where he’s looking. Out of the large kitchen window, across the paddock to the trees and beyond. “Is that a possibility?”
River shrugs. “I don’t know how much Atom would want for it.”
I let my imagination run wild. The two of us. Cozy fires. Lazy Sundays. Making soups. “I’d pay half, if I can afford it.”
“No need. I can afford it for the two of us.”
I should have expected he’d want to provide for me. “It’s not about the cost; it’s about feeling the same sense of ownership you do. That we’re in this together. Providing for each other.”
“When you put it like that, I find it hard to argue. Stop being so damn sensible.”
The peace and safety I’ve been looking for is right here, between the two of us.
“I’ll try to be less rational in the future.”
A wide smile breaks on his face, and my heart leaps at how damn attractive he is. “Let me talk to Atom. We might never have to move out.”
“But your family?”
He buries his head into the crook of my neck, and I stroke his back. “All that security system shit you ordered will arrive at the clubhouse soon. And there’s a prospect living at my place temporarily to keep an eye on Willa.”
“When you decide something, you really do move fast,” I say, looping my fingers through his.
“Not usually. But for you, I make an exception.” He brings my hand to his lips and kisses it. He places my hand back down on my lap, then moves to the coffee. “How far have you gotten?”
I recap my progress, then look back at the laptop. “My plan is to send Chase a professional request. Something that is curiosity provoking, like a reference to a live case. Or something so inanely boring that he won’t think twice about accepting it. Like a request from IT to have his laptop serviced or something.”
I don’t bore him with all the other things I’m going to try.
“What will that give you?”
“Access to all Chase’s systems, because I’m reasonably confident that Chase and the person who paid me to hack the cartel are the same person.”
River places the coffee pot back on the hot plate with a clatter. “For real?”
I nod and explain the overlapping names.
