Page 69 of Lying Lainey

I nodded. “Yeah, just getting a little anxious. I’m sure I’ll feel better once I have an answer.”

Halstead reached an arm forward through the front seats asking for my hand. I gave it to him and smiled as he kissed the back of it. “No matter what those tests say, nothing changes for us. We want you to stay and be part of our family. Period.”

“Good because I’m working really hard to accept the truth in that statement. My heart gets it, but my brain is taking a little longer to believe it,” I admitted. “It seems like this is all too good to be true, and I’m living in a fairy tale.”

“Didn’t you know? All fiction is based on a bit of truth, so why can’t this be our truth?” Quintin reasoned.

“It can,” Kerian announced as he pulled onto the street. “Now all we need to do is defeat the evil trying to keep us apart, and we can start our happily ever after.”

That got me laughing, and the fear that had been sitting in my chest evaporated. These men wouldn’t leave me because of not getting enough sleep. Fuck, if I can tell them I’m a con artist who’s ruined so many people’s lives, and they still want me to be part of their family, I’m not sure much will scare them away.

“Mr. Norlund, I thought you weren’t coming in until next week?” Sam said when he spotted us exiting the elevator.

“I should be saying the same thing about you?” Halstead challenged. “You were supposed to only be working until noon, and it’s one o’clock now.”

Sam blinked a few times before his brow crinkled. “I’m sorry, I didn’t think you were serious about that.”

“Son, what the hell is there for you to do when I haven’t been here?” he questioned.

“Actually, I was getting ahead on a few things since I didn’t have as much on my plate right now. I was able to catch up on—”

“Stop,” Halstead said, holding up a hand. “Gather your things and go home. There is nothing vital for you to work on, and you’re getting paid time off for this, so I don’t want to hear anything about needing the hours. If you don’t listen to me, I’ll call Fernando and tell him to take you home.”

Sam shot to his feet. “No, please, Mr. Norlund. After the incident with the gentleman from the DOD, he’s been far more overprotective, and that’s saying something.”

“I can’t say I blame him. If I found someone threatening one of my partners, I would have done more than just punch the man,” Halstead grumbled. “I’ll give you ten minutes, but if I come back out here to find you still here, then you sealed your fate.”

“Yes, sir,” Sam answered, nodding his head like a Bobblehead doll.

Quintin took my hand and gave it a little tug, drawing me to follow as we headed for Kerian’s office. I hadn’t spent much time here other than to know where it was. It matched the simple modern feel that his office back at the house had—all metal, glass, and white with pops of cobalt blue, yellow, and orange to liven it up.

Kerian dropped into his office chair and booted things up, flipped on screens, and made sure a few things were plugged in. “All right, so the plan is I will develop a virus that will seek out the one I helped to build. I’m pretty sure I reversed-engineered enough of it that I can give the hound a scent to track down and destroy. First, though, I’m going to make sure I still have access to the server through my link. If not, then I’ll need a little time to get in the back door I created when I built it.”

“Wait, you put in a back door even though you agreed to work with him?” I questioned.

Kerian paused and looked at me. “When the man has already fucked your partner over and put you in position to take the fall for something involving national security on a project you had nothing to do with… yeah, you put in a back door from the word go.”

I couldn’t argue that. I knew all about Halstead’s drama, and I’d heard enough about Kerian’s to know something bad happened, but national security, that was career-ending.

“That’s what Halstead meant when he said, thankfully, you came to them so he could protect you,” I blurted.

“Indeed,” Quintin confirmed. “Interestingly enough, I think it might have had to do with this Omega syndicate. Reuben was caught looking into files he had no business having access to. They were data on a few prominent political figures who’d just been exposed for backroom deals on a drug to alter Betas into Omegas, but it was killing them instead of altering their designations. There was a whole sex-trafficking ring involved as well.”

“The bastard used my computer to do the hacking so when they traced back the IP address, it had my name written all over it. Thankfully, we could show Reuben was piggybacking off my information, but the incriminating evidence was on his computer, not mine,” Kerian informed me as his hand flew over the keyboard. “How he got off going to jail, I’ll never know, but I bet every penny I own it was one of his packmates. Those fuckers picked their members based on giving each other the best advantage in life, not because they like each other. Honestly, I feel bad for their Omega. She’s sweet, but they one hundred percent picked a woman they could easily manipulate and control.”

Picturing what that must be like made me shiver. To think a woman could be trapped with that group of men and kept in the dark about all they’ve done, it made me even more thankful how important transparency and communication were to these three men.

“You don’t have to wait here with us,” Halstead commented, rolling a chair over to sit next to Kerian. “I’m going to jump in and help him get things rolling, so it shouldn’t take more than an hour or an hour and a half at the most.”

“Does that mean it will help if things are quiet, and you won’t be distracted by me being in here?” I asked, cocking a brow.

They looked stuck as if they didn’t know how to answer that.

“Guys, take a breath… it’s fine. I’m a big girl and can handle being told you need space to work,” I said with a chuckle, letting them off the hook. “Kerian reminded me that I need to get on top of settling my personal life to be relocated here. I’m assuming I can use one of the computers without setting off any alarms?”

Kerian rolled his eyes but went back to work as Halstead half rose out of his chair before Quintin waved him off. “Sit down. I’ll set her up in your office since Sam is gone, and no one would dare step foot in there without your say-so.”

“Good, her search history will also be protected so no one will be able to use that against her,” Halstead pointed out as he sat back down. “Lainey, I don’t know what your financial situation is like or if you have access to it, but part of being a pack means you get shares in the company. Until that can be arranged, you just tell us what you need to pay for, and we’ll make sure it’s covered until you have access to funds.”