The Insiders (The Insiders Trilogy 1)

Kash only flattened his mouth.

Matt jerked forward, new fight coming to him. “He’s in over his head. He owes the banks too much, and his new company is tanking. Besides, his wife has been cheating on him for years, and not just with me. When he finds out, he’ll find the rest. I’ll be the least of his worries. I know his two business partners got pokes in there, too, long before me. There’s rumors of a Christmas party, if you get my drift.”

Kash wasn’t amused. His eyes were hard. “That only means he’s desperate. He can latch onto the latest, a privileged prick of a tech golden boy. Guy that desperate won’t sit back and think rationally about who else surrounded his wife. You get my drift?”

They were at a standoff.

Matt growled, falling back against the booth. “Fine. Whatever. I won’t pick up when she calls.”

Kash ignored that, pulling out a phone and sliding it over the table. “Now.”

“What?” He was looking from the phone to Kash. His eyes widening. “No way.”

“Now, Matt.”

“Kash—”

“Goddamn it. Now. I’m not fucking around with this. There’s too much else at stake. A scandal like this can have blowback.” He motioned to me, his eyes not moving from Matt. “You know who else that can hurt. End it. Now.”

Matt was snarling, until Kash referenced me. Then the snarl softened into mere regret, and he closed his eyes. Raking a hand over his face, he shook his head. “What a fucking mess. Fine.” He took the phone, typing in her number and a text. Seconds later, he threw it at Kash. “There. Done.” His glare was back. “You happy?”

Kash took the phone, pulled up the history, then pulled up a different number. He handed it back. “Now actually text the phone she uses and not a dummy number.”

Matt froze.

Even I was surprised.

“You—” Matt grabbed the phone, saw the new number, and blood drained from his face. “How’d you get this—”

“Do you actually forget who your father is?” Kash jerked forward. He was close enough to be heard, but he dropped his voice low. There was a promise of violence under his words, being held back by a veiled line of restraint. He was done. That was obvious. Only Matt seemed still defiant, until Kash ground out, “I only had to give him a name, that was it. He pulled up everything. Texts. DMs. Private messages. Emails from three fake accounts. We have it. So fucking end it.”

“You went to my dad?” Matt’s top lip turned white, it was stretched so tight.

“No. I gave him a name. That was it. And before you jump down my back for being a snitch, I had to give him the name, because Bonham is a threat to your father, your sister, and you now. It was for security reasons. Not to give him the name would be reckless and stupid. Unlike your dick, I’m not a moron.”

“Jesus Christ, Kash. Sometimes I really hate you.”

“Feeling’s more than mutual right now, but you’ll be loving me the next second you need my ass to help you. You know it. I know it. Everyone goddamn knows it.”

I’d been watching the back-and-forth, but at Kash’s mention of security reasons, I waited for a beat. It was now.

I jumped in, holding a hand up. “Camille Story.”

Both looked to me. Both quieted.

I waited.

They didn’t say anything until Kash said, “Explain.”

I flushed, remembering another time he’d said the same phrase to me. But, pushing forward, I told them what I had done. Including the hacking. Including finding all the files on Matt.

“I deleted everything so she wouldn’t notice it was gone until she went looking for it.”

They were both silent a moment when I was done.

I fidgeted.

That was okay, what I’d done? I mean, maybe not in the grand scheme of the cosmic universe of morals and stuff, but she would’ve hurt us. Hurt Kash. Hurt Matt. In a way, I was just doing what they were doing for me, and what I’d done in the past. I was protecting people I cared about. In that way, I’d done nothing wrong. Karma was on my side.

I still eyed Kash, who hadn’t turned away from me.

What was wrong?

Then he said slowly, “She had your name?”

I nodded, just as slowly as him. “Yeah.”

“And how much information did she have on Matt?”

“A lot.” Scanning through it in my head, I added, “She knew about the Bonham woman.”

Matt jerked at that, rearing backward as if slapped. He hissed out, “What the fuck?”

Kash narrowed his eyes, still on me. “Tell me everything she had on us.”

He waited as I went over it all, and he listened. It took a little while, long enough that a server came over to offer drinks. Matt waved her off as Kash ignored her, listening to me. When I was done, both wore decidedly different expressions than when I’d started.