Wicked and True (Wicked & Devoted 4)

Zy frowned. Months ago when he’d stayed here with her and Hallie, when she had been at her most frayed and exhausted, she’d picked up the house meticulously every night. Now it looked as if she hadn’t bothered in a while, as if she no longer gave a shit. Why?

It was also unlike her not to be in her bedroom, door closed, at three a.m. But Tessa reclined on the sofa, curled into a ball, head lolling onto the back as she slept under one of Hallie’s baby blankets. What the hell? She must be uncomfortable, not to mention freezing. Why was she here instead of on her cozy, queen-size marshmallow of a mattress? And why, even in the shadows, did her eyes look puffy and red?

Was something bothering her? Guilt maybe?

He shouldn’t worry about her housecleaning habits any more than he should worry about her feelings now. But even as he told himself that, he lifted the quilt lying on the back of an armchair and spread it open, softly draping it over her body. For a moment, she stiffened. Stifling a curse, Zy retreated to a dark corner of the room, but she settled again moments later, sighing as she melted back into sleep.

Bent and stupid; those were the best words to describe him now. He was too focused on Tessa and her comfort when he should be figuring out just how corrupt she was. He had a fucking traitor to catch before she could endanger any other team members’ lives.

On the heels of that came another terrible thought, but he’d shelve it until he had her computer wide open for him to examine. He didn’t have a choice.

Antsy now, Zy zoomed from the living room to her bedroom, looking for the laptop. Sure enough, it sat on the corner of her dresser, where she usually stashed the device at night.

“Got it,” he whispered into the earbud’s microphone.

“Good. Find a quiet place to set up.”

Zy needed to think. When they’d planned this, he and Trees had both agreed it made sense for Zy to scan the machine at Tessa’s with Trees’s remote help, rather than schlepping it back and forth. He’d only bring it to the ranch—and potentially tip their hand—if necessary. After all, if Tessa woke up while he was gone and realized her computer was missing, the jig was up. But all along, he’d been sure Tessa would be in her bed, so he’d intended to tuck himself in the little dining alcove or even hang out on the sofa she currently occupied.

Time to improvise.

He didn’t dare go into her bedroom or bathroom in case she woke up and headed that way. Ditto with anywhere in the open area of the living room, dining room, or kitchen. That left Hallie’s bedroom and the guest bath. Well, he supposed he could try her laundry, but it was more of a closet than a room. And the tight space of her garage wouldn’t give him anywhere to work unless he sat in her car…which would beep as soon as he opened the door.

Fuck.

He crept out of the master bedroom, past Tessa, bypassing her damn shoes, which would have been easy to trip on, then straight through the kitchen. He stopped in the little hallway then. Hallie’s bedroom—the chances of waking the little girl with a computer light seemed slim—with the glider? Or the postage-stamp guest bath?

Staring back and forth between the side-by-side doors, Zy deliberated, then reached for the knob on the left and pushed into the little bathroom. He might not wake Hallie with the computer light, but if Tessa had the baby monitor tucked under her blanket and he woke her by being here in her daughter’s room…there would be no logical explanation.

Slowly, he shut the bathroom door, quietly closed the lid on the commode, then flipped on the light. “All right. Let’s go.”

“Got the USB drive?”

“Yep.” Trees had given him the device before he’d left his buddy’s place. “Inserting it now.”

“Since this allows me to bypass her log-in and password requirements, once I remote connect, I can take down any other security she might have and get into any program she’s loaded.”

Zy had figured as much.

The light on the USB drive lit up. Her computer zipped past the log-in screen and quickly loaded her desktop. Damn, Trees was good.

“You’re a go.”

“Perfect. Give me a minute with it. You don’t have to babysit. If you need to check on something out there—”

“I don’t.” If he looked at Tessa again, he’d only feel sympathy she didn’t deserve. Even now, he could all but feel her across the house, soft and warm and upset about something she wouldn’t explain. And it was killing him.

In the next five minutes, he would probably know just how duplicitous she was…and suddenly, he didn’t want to. Instead, he wanted to grab her, throttle her, understand her, fuck her within an inch of her life, pleasure her until she didn’t have the strength to lie to him anymore, then love her so much she could never hurt him again.