The Insiders (The Insiders Trilogy 1)

I said it again, “I really am sorry. I … I wasn’t thinking. And you’re right. I was told to go back where I came from, in essence, and I reacted. I was mad, and hurting, and I lashed out in the way I can lash out. I am truly sorry.”

His chest rose slowly. He drew in some air before letting it back out, just as slowly. He shook his head. “I know. I can see that.” His eyes softened. The lines around his mouth smoothed out. “Look, they won’t be told who hacked into their privacy. They won’t know it was you.”

“Matt knows.”

“Matt knows nothing. Matt will know what I tell him to know.”

He said it so swiftly, with a hint of violence, and that familiarity was whispering at me again. How he said those words, that cold look in his eyes … What was bugging me?

“You need to put back what you took, and you need to delete what copies you made. By now, the team’s got most of your bugs out of their systems. You will go in and remove the rest.”

“Go in? What do you mean?”

Not … No way. He gave me a meaningful look.

My eyes widened. “You mean go into their security room and use one of their computers?” I didn’t know if I was salivating at the chance to see what they were working with on their end or dreading it because they would see me in person.

“Quinn wants you removed from the estate. I won’t allow it. But you will not be free to walk around any longer, not until you’ve earned trust back.”

“Trust? Whose trust?”

“Mine.” His eyes were heated again, smoldering at me. “You will earn my trust. After removing your viruses, you will be stripped of computer privileges—”

“You can’t do that! I need to work on my graduate project. I—” I surged to my feet.

“Watch me.” He met me, surging right back at me.

I didn’t move. Neither did he. We were almost touching, staring back at each other, both angry, heated breaths coming in and out, and I was suddenly hot for a whole other reason.

God’s sake.

I needed to look away. I did. I couldn’t.

I wanted to reach out. I wanted to touch him, and my gaze fell to his chest. I could see how his shirt molded to him, hugging him so perfectly, and I could desperately imagine the feel of him against me. So strong, firm. Earlier, I had thought there wasn’t an inch of fat on his body, and now I was salivating, wanting to test my theory.

Kash broke first, stepping back. His voice came out ragged. “Your punishment is this: You will remain in this house. You will only walk on the grounds with a security guard, and when I feel you can be trusted, you will earn your freedom more and more.”

“My God,” I bit out, but I wasn’t sure if I was reacting because of the punishment or something else. I stepped back, drawing more air. I needed to clear my head, because it was swimming.

“Prison,” he said. “You could be made to disappear and never come back. That’s a drastic measure, but in a way, it’d clear up your father’s problems a whole lot easier for us. You need a reality check of what I’m saving you from. Quinn wants you gone. She doesn’t give a shit about keeping you protected. I’m doing this. Me. You’ll do as you’re told and you’ll do it without an attitude or, so help me, Bailey, you can get fucked in a thousand different ways here. None of them pleasurable. Deal with it.”

Really. Those exact words.

Okay.

That burned.

I wanted the entire summer with my computer. I wanted a head start on my graduate project, and I couldn’t do any of that now. I had screwed up, but damn, it was going to be a hard one to swallow.

He started to move away, and then he stopped. He was half turned toward me, his head tipped back, stormy eyes taking me in.

“You never asked who noticed your breach in the first place.”

My throat swelled up for some reason. “What do you mean? I thought their system would’ve caught me.”

His phone buzzed in his hand, but he ignored it. “You disabled their alert system almost right away. It was one person who realized you were in the system. If he hadn’t, who knows when they would’ve realized you were there. Quinn and your siblings didn’t know you hacked them until they were told to check their accounts. They were in, doing their own thing at the same time you were in there, taking their things.” He paused, his eyes narrowing slightly. “It was the same person who shut you down, too.”

I felt it. The burn was back. It was spreading from my throat, to my stomach, to my feet. Traveling all the way down my legs, setting every nerve on edge.