"You got that right!" he says, letting out another chuckle.
The less Agent Wepner knows about me, the better. And I'll never tell him I have the daughter of the man I'm planning on destroying.
A few moments later, the waiter returns with the wine and pours two glasses. I stare at the glass in front of me and grimace. A few thousand dollars down the tube, and I can't even take one sip.
But I enjoy watching Wepner gulp the expensive liquid down with no problem whatsoever. "I'm not much of a connoisseur or anything. But I know when something's good, and that's damn good wine," he remarks. After draining the glass, he sets it down and asks, "Why now?"
I raise a brow, silently asking him to explain.
"You know we've been after Valenti for quite some time, but you were never willing to give me the information before. So…why now?"
His question is, of course, valid and reasonable, but I have no interest in telling him the truth. The truth involves Adeline and keeping her safe; however, she's innocent and doesn't belong in the middle of this. So instead, I answer him by saying, "I was trying to collect as much as I could." Then I add, "And now I'm done."
He slowly nods in understanding, but I'm not sure if he actually believes me. Either way, it's not like he can doubt me on anything really. Hell, Wepner doesn't even know my real name. That's why he refers to me as Mr. Wolf.
The Big Bad Wolf.
That is my code name on the dark web. It's also the name I use for all my business transactions, legal and otherwise. I use the alias because Mr. Wolf doesn't exist. And neither do I technically. Years ago, I eradicated any existence of Lucien Morrow when I hired one of the greatest hackers alive.
Lucien Morrow was a scared, little boy, the victim of abuse. I refused to be a victim after my uncle saved me from my own personal hell.
And after my hacker friend and I were done eliminating my former self, I hired him to teach me everything he knew. We spent many days, weeks, months working on code after code, hack after hack until I learned every possible thing he could instill upon me. And then, once the student eventually became the teacher, we parted ways.
Eventually, I wanted a new identity, one that I could be proud to be associated with. My uncle's last name was the only clear choice, and so I became Lucien Sterling, for all intents and purposes, to my closest friends and allies, which happen to be very few and far between.
Reaching down to the briefcase in my lap, I snap open the latches and retrieve a thick set of folders. I set them on the table between us and close the briefcase.
Wepner pulls his eyeglasses from his shirt pocket and slips them on his face before he grabs the first folder and flips through the pages. A low whistle escapes his lips as his eyes greedily peruse the file. "You know, even my best agents don't compile data like you. It really is a work of art." He gathers another folder and then another, looking through the evidence that took me a lot of time to gather. "You ever think of working for the good guys?" he asks, eying me over the rim of his glasses.
"Then who would you get all your information from?" I ask him with a small smile.
He snorts. "You got me there. I definitely need someone on the outside looking in like you, Mr. Wolf."
The waiter brings the salad and the swordfish just then, and Wepner sets the folders aside and tucks his glasses back into his pocket.
When we're alone again, I stand and grip the briefcase in my hand. "Well, I really must be going, Agent Wepner. I'll settle the bill downstairs on my way out. Enjoy your meal."
"One more thing before you go…" he says, causing me to pause by the table and meet his stare. "Word on the street is that Valenti's youngest daughter, Adeline, is missing," he tells me slowly, letting the words and their meaning hang in the air for a few moments.
I give him a small smile and tell him, "Now, I wouldn't know anything about that," before walking away.
CHAPTER 18
ADELINE
"HOW CAN YOU like oldiesandrap music? They're, like,completeopposites!" Jax says, throwing his hand in the air exasperatedly, as he scrolls through my iPod playlist on the computer.
We're currently hanging out in Lucien's office, a place in the mansion that I have never had the privilege of being in before. The fact that Jax had to punch in a key code, which he kept hidden from me, before we entered leads me to believe that I'm probably not supposed to even be in here.
But being in Lucien's office surrounded by his personal things that he considers important enough to keep under lock and key makes me feel better and closer to him somehow.
I give Jax a shrug. "I like almost every genre of music. Well, except country."
"Now, that is a damn shame," he says, shaking his head. "There are some really good country songs out there." Grinning as he continues to scroll through my playlist, he points out, "Hypnotizeby The Notorious B.I.G. is right above The Four Seasons'Sherry." His eyes grow wide as he exclaims, "Oh, my god! And here is Beethoven'sMoonlight Sonatajust thrown right into the mix."
I playfully punch him in the arm. "Hey, stop making fun of me!"
He looks at me with a serious expression and says, "I can't help it. This is the most absurd playlist I've ever seen in my life."
