CHAPTER ONE
JANE BLACKMOOR
Back in the day…
“Build it stronger than you found it.” Years after his first hack, whenever he dismantled entire infrastructures from the inside, Mozzi heard Jane’s voice.
He was ten years old the first time he broke into something that mattered. Back at Haven House, he did it for shits and giggles or to throw the guards and staff off. Here, in his home, it was more than that. The house was quiet. Audiemar had stepped out for business. Sleep had long come for Kong, and Moose lay in his room, pretending, but was really under the covers with a flashlight sketching. Inside Audiemar’s home office, Mozzi sat cross legged on the floor, a laptop balanced on his knees with his back pressed against the desk. He wanted to make sure he couldn’t be seen if someone came looking for him. The screen glowed against his face and lines of code scrolled rapidly. He’d already bypassed the guest network. The security system hummed faintly through the walls. Layered, expensive, and built to keep threats out.
“That was easy,” he muttered under his breath.
His fingers moved faster, remaining cautious but excited about his progress. He didn’t understand every piece just yet, but he understood patterns. His birth mama used to tell him weakness lived in patterns. It was how she was always able to catch someone slipping. After a brief search, he found one. A small door in the cyber world that hadn’t been closed all the way. Quietly slipping into the darkness, Mozzi froze when a camera flickered. It was a nanosecond, sending his heartbeat climbing. It wasn’t from fear, but from his conquest. The entire surveillance grid opened, and every camera feed in the house bloomed across the screen.
“Shit!” Mozzi whispered, eyeing the kitchen, hallways, and driveway with power humming in his veins.
“Are you supposed to be in here?” Jane’s soft voice sent his heart into his throat, and he slammed the laptop closed.
Scrambling to his knees, he slid it under the desk and poked his head around it. She stood in the doorway barefoot, in pastel pink silk pajamas with her rich brown hair falling loosely past her shoulders.
“I was just checking something,” Mozzi blurted out.
Tilting her head, Jane squinted. “The security system?”
His silence spoke volumes.
“Did you get in?” she asked, gradually stepping into the room.
“How did you—” Mozzi studied her face for a trap.
“Did you leave a trail?” She hiked one of her perfect brows.
Jaw tightening, he sucked his teeth. “No.”
“Show me.” Jane shrugged.
Mozzi was hesitant. When he was caught in the wrong, he was used to being punished for it. This was the first time he’d stepped out of the box in what he considered his new home. He just had to be sure. Grabbing the laptop from behind the desk, he brought it to the surface so Jane could also view his activityfrom behind. Hands steady, he retraced his path, pointing out any vulnerabilities he’d found. He spoke in a rush, with no kind of punctuation until Jane’s hand gently landed on his wrist.
“Why did you do all this?” she pried, catching him off guard.
“I wanted to see if I could.” Mozzi shrugged.
“That’s not the whole reason.” Jane stepped up behind him, and Mozzi spun around to face her.
Jane was pretty, with warm, welcoming eyes. She didn’t seem to get angry much. He wasn’t sure if that was just a mask or if she genuinely had a good-natured spirit. Mozzi stiffened when she reached around him to close the laptop.
“You don’t like not knowing what protects you,” she surmised. “Or what could hurt you.” Jane gently fisted some of his curly hair.
“You going to tell him?” Mozzi queried, eyes flicking up.
“Absolutely.” Jane smiled faintly, almost gaining a similar reaction from him before he dropped his head. “But… if you’re going to break systems, you gotta learn how to build them too.”
“What?” Mozzi’s eyes reverted to slits.
“You don’t get to just test the house. You’re going to help reinforce it.” She straightened up behind him and tucked the laptop under her arm. “Come to the kitchen. We can have a snack, and you are going to show me how you got in.”
Present Day…
“Build it stronger than you found it.” Mozzi heard Jane’s voice in his ears along with sirens in the distance and panicked voices standing over him.
