Knox had introduced me to Lucio a few days ago, when we were going over the guards positioned at our house. He was handsome, with dark hair and an easy charm. Polite. Professional. Very smooth. He smiled at everyone and used all the right words.
The others seemed to like him well enough because he was helpful. Knox had told me they were lucky he arrived when he did, right when they needed someone with tech skills. His timing had been convenient.
I didn’t remember him from before. I didn’t have any past loyalty to cloud my vision. No history, no established trust, no reason to give him the benefit of the doubt.
So when Knox had told me Lucio was good with tech, I had started to watch him carefully.
I set the tray of coffee mugs on the table and began distributing them. Lucio thanked me politely, his fingers brushing mine as he took his mug. His smile was warm. Friendly.
His eyes, though. His eyes were scanning the papers on Knox’s desk. Papers he wasn’t supposed to see. Patrol schedules. Guard rotations. The locations of our safe houses.
I kept my expression neutral and moved on to give Hunt his coffee.
Ryder was explaining a specific patrol route, drawing on a map spread across the table. I wasn’t really listening to the words. I was watching Lucio.
His fingers twitched on his keyboard. Just a small movement. A tiny tell. Like he was fighting the need to type what he was hearing.
There was nothing concrete against him, obviously. He hadn’t done anything wrong. He was helping them track down the hackers. He was providing valuable information. He was exactly what he appeared to be: a skilled tech specialist who had transferred to their pack at the right time.
But I was observant. I had to be. My gut was telling me that something was off, and I had learned to trust my gut.
Knox’s hand found my waist and he yanked me down onto his lap before I could move away. I let out a small squeak of surprise that made the other men chuckle.
“You didn’t have to bring us coffee,” Knox murmured against my ear, his arms wrapping around me. “You should be resting.”
“If I rest any more, I’m going to turn into a vegetable.”
“A cute vegetable.”
“There’s no such thing as a cute vegetable.”
“You’d be the first.”
I rolled my eyes but settled into his lap, letting him hold me while the meeting continued. His hand rested on my thigh, his thumb drawing absent circles on my skin. It was possessive. Comforting. A little distracting.
Lucio was running the presentation now, explaining something about firewalls and encryption that went completely over my head. I watched his face, his hands, his body language. Everything about him was perfectly professional.
Then the screen went red.
“What the hell?” Hunt leaned forward, his eyes narrowing.
Lucio’s fingers flew across the keyboard, his expression shifting from calm to alarmed. “Someone is trying to hack us. Right now. They’re attempting to breach our security systems.”
The room erupted into controlled chaos. Noah moved to look over Lucio’s shoulder. Ryder grabbed his phone and started making calls. Knox’s arms tightened around me, his body tense with alertness.
I watched Lucio work.
He seemed genuinely alarmed. His movements were quick, efficient, focused. He muttered technical terms under his breath as he typed, his brow furrowed in concentration.
If someone was trying to hack them right now, in real time, that meant it wasn’t Lucio. Right? He was sitting right here,defending their systems. He couldn’t be the hacker if he was fighting the hack.
Unless this was staged.
Unless he had set this up to prove his loyalty, to make himself look like the hero who saved their systems from an attack he had orchestrated.
I didn’t know. I knew nothing about coding or hacking or any of this tech stuff. For all I knew, he could be typing absolute gibberish and no one would be able to tell the difference.
Shit.
