“Julian knows how to loop footage, exactly like this,” he says neutrally.
“But whywouldhe?” I persist. “He was in the house; he wouldn’t need to worry about the cameras from the grounds if he did it.”
“Maybe he wantedmeto worry about the cameras from the grounds.” He beckons me over to the sitting area. “Come.”
I slide clumsily off the bed and go over to sit opposite him on the little couch. Without thinking, I’ve brought my book with me. He glances at the cover, then at me, his eyes two dark, unreadable pools.
Then he pulls out my phone. He holds it up, watching me. “You need to text anyone who might be concerned about you. Tell them that you’re alright, that you’ve gone away for a few nights.”
He turns on the phone. If he’s expecting a flood of messages, he’ll be disappointed. I see him glance at the phone as one ding sounds. “Your mother has texted you. You’d better tell her first.”
He hands the phone to me, pulling it back as I reach for it.
“You understand, you will tell no one who you are. You will not try to give any secret messages. You will tell me what you plan to write before you write it, so that I can approve it. If you do as I say, we can find a way for you to return home. If you don’t…”
I give a jerky nod. “I understand.”
I stare down at my mother’s text, a simpleWhere are you?What can I say? “I’ll tell her I’m at a friend’s place,” I say.
“Will she believe it?”
“She’ll probably be fucking ecstatic.” It slips out, and I bite my lip after. I don’t want Alessandro to know how friendless I really am. My mother is always telling me to go out, make friends,get off that damn computer…
All Alessandro says is, “Make it quick.”
I type in the message, show him before I hit send, and he gives a nod.
“Anyone else? Your father?”
I shake my head. “He lives in San Francisco.”
“Friends?”
“Honestly, what Ishoulddo is put up a notice onCute Crimsthat I’ll be away. Let one of the mods know, at least, so they’re not waiting around for me to make decisions…”
He looks even more closely at me, and I squirm a little in the seat. “You are good with computers, yes?”
“Yes.” Computers make sense to me in a way that humans don’t. Computers don’t say one thing and mean another, or make fun of you, or get annoyed with you. My father is one of those tech giants in Silicon Valley, a billionaire who sleeps four hours max and spends all day wishing he was still some coding geek instead of a CEO. He said that to me once, that’s how I know. He calls me achip off the old block, says I remind him of himself.
But we’re not really alike. I have no interest in building an empire. The only thing he’s ever really done for me is send all the future-tech security prototypes that his company makes, which means I can stay one step ahead of law enforcement forCute Crims.
And these days, that’s all I want from him.
Alessandro leans in. “Can you hack into systems?”
“Um. Some of them.”
“What about highly secure systems, such as those of the federal government?”
I give a half-smile. “That kind of thing…it’s not like the movies. It takes a long time, and they usually boot you before you get anywhere interesting.”
Alessandro sits back, frowning. “I see.”
“But,” I say, “I have contacts online who might be able to open up some pre-made tunnels for me. Then I might be able to slide in. Look around. Depending on what you need.”
I can’t look away from his eyes as they bore into me. “You are a useful little mouse, aren’t you?”
I lift my chin. “But if you want me to do that, you need to givemesomething.”
