The Damaged (The Insiders Trilogy 2)

Crap. This had progressed quickly.

Hoda’s head snapped up. “I don’t see why it’s her call—”

“It is because my boss says it is.”

“Because her dad says it is—”

“Because her boyfriend says it is.”

Hoda’s mouth closed with an audible clap. She seemed stunned, and I sighed internally because I hadn’t wanted to think it, but now I couldn’t not think it.

“You released that image of Kash and me last summer.”

It made sense.

She was here.

She knew who I was by then.

She wasn’t happy I was coming to her program.

She worked IT here.

She would’ve had the skills, and the motivation.

She did it.

I wasn’t asking. I knew it.

The guilt that flushed her face told me I was right. Shame flared briefly before she thought about whatever she needed to make it go away.

Guilt. Shame. Then coldness. And anger after that.

Her top lip curved up. “You can’t prove it.”

Torie snorted. She looked to say something, but I shook my head, quick.

Hoda underestimated me. That was fine with me, because I didn’t want to know how she’d react when she knew not to underestimate me.

“Maybe. Probably not. But you did, didn’t you?”

She didn’t respond, not at first. “Am I fired?”

“What’s your issue with me?”

Heated eyes swung back to me and she drew upright, her head falling back. “You mean besides the fact you didn’t earn your spot in school? What about the circus you’ve brought to our classrooms? Or that all the guys think you walk on water because you’re related to Peter Francis? Or that you have a seriously hot boyfriend wading into shit to save you, and he carries you out and no one says a word, like his word is god at school. I get it with him being my boss, which I didn’t know until now, but at Hawking? It’s hard to get into that school, and you got in no worries at all, probably no sweat at all. You probably just said ‘Daddy, I’d like to go to Hawking’ and he picked up the phone the next day and, voilà, you’re an incoming graduate freshman at Hawking University by that afternoon. I mean, you don’t get it.”

Torie’s mouth was hanging open, just an inch. She was as shocked as me.

I thought it’d be more. “Jealousy? That’s what this is all about? You’re straight-up just jealous?”

“My father is a doctor and he works all hours of the night. He’s barely home. My mom takes care of us, all of us, and I have eight brothers and sisters. We didn’t have it easy growing up. We had chores to do. Every morning I had to get up, help with breakfast, do the dishes before school. Then I had to be responsible for all my siblings, making sure they all had their bags and lunches, and I had to make sure we all got home after our activities. Three girls were kidnapped where I grew up. Three. All just walking home from school. But you don’t get that, do you? You probably had drivers taking you back and forth from school and home and your friends’ houses.”

This girl wasn’t with it. There was a screw loose up there. What she was spewing was insane.

Torie’s gaze shot to mine, and she knew the truth, but I shook my head again. I didn’t want her spilling the truth to the girl who actually had it better than me. She had a stay-at-home mom and a father who was a doctor. Looking after siblings wasn’t something I’d gripe about.

I was happy to even have siblings.

In that second, I knew I didn’t want Hoda to be fired. I didn’t before, but I just hadn’t decided if I wanted to tell Kash everything or not. He’d fire her no matter what, if he found out about the released image.

But I knew now.

She was here. She was in my classes. I’d have to do projects with her, work closely with her, and I wasn’t sure if I wanted to make her a different kind of enemy. At least now I knew what I was working with. Better to have the enemy you know than one you don’t, that sort of thinking.

I also knew I’d be getting all the information on Hoda Mansour after this conversation. Unlike her, I was going in prepped and ready. No underestimating for me.

Torie shook her head. “You just look stupid right now.” A grunt. “And spoiled.”

I hid a grin. She’d taken the words out of my mouth, ones that I wasn’t about to say.

Hoda glared at her, then me. “Am I fired?”

Torie rolled her eyes, swinging an elbow in my direction. “Up to her still. But man, if I were you, I’d check my attitude. You do know her dad and her man are connected in town and in the field you’re going to be working. You think long term? Might not want to piss off a Francis so early in your game.”