The Damaged (The Insiders Trilogy 2)

I looked through my assignments and there was a whole code I needed to finish.

Maybe … I was thinking here, because what I should do now and what I wanted to do weren’t lining up. I should do the code, but I really wanted to hack Hoda.

Crap.

If Matt was texting on the phone the whole drive up, I could do the code then, or most of the code. Could I? Yes. I was going to try for it.

That meant I had fifty minutes to hack Hoda and the other ten were for the bathroom and me changing clothes.

I went to the office, settled in, and within a minute I was already running the program to get Hoda’s password. First up, her social media accounts.

All of them.

THIRTEEN

Within the hour, I had uploaded my programs to Hoda’s Facebook, her Twitter, her Instagram, her emails, because she had five separate addresses, and her website. The program acted like a window. It was a back window she didn’t know she had, but I could get into her accounts anytime I wanted or needed.

I could watch her activity.

Was it an invasion of privacy? Yes.

Did I care? No.

She thought I hadn’t earned my place. She underestimated me. She released that image of Kash and me, so in the way of us Hayes women, vengeance was totally appropriate here. She screwed with me, I was going to obliterate her if I so chose.

I just wasn’t there, yet.

Ring! Ring!

Buzz! Buzz!

Shit. Damn. Crappers.

It was five-forty. Matt was late and so was I.

I ran to the door and hit the speaker button. “I’m late, too. Tell Matt I’ll be down in five minutes. I gotta pee.” I didn’t wait for the guard’s confirmation. I let the button go and sprinted to the bathroom. Then I sprinted to the closet and changed super quick. It should be casual at the estate tonight, but one never knew. I threw on jeans and a nicer sweater than what I’d been wearing to school. I ran my fingers through my hair quickly and called it done. My hair could go up in a clip. It’d look like a messy ponytail. That was fine by me. Chrissy would say something, but I wasn’t caring at this moment. I could braid it if necessary.

Grabbing my bag, another litany of curses fell from my mouth, because I needed everything to go with me to do my coding in the car. Shit, shit, shit.

My wallet and phone were stuffed in my backpack, and I had my laptop in there. Yes. I was running down the checklist. I had everything I needed. I thought so, anyway. If I didn’t, I’d be up later than I wanted to finish my coding, because I had reading to do for tomorrow, too.

There was a knock at my door.

I pulled it open. “Hey.”

It was Scott.

He held the door for me, falling in line behind me as I dashed to the elevator that was being held open for me.

Scott hit the parking lot button, folding his hands in front of him as the doors slid closed. “I’ll be the guard accompanying you tonight.”

I was half-distracted, thinking that I really needed Matt to be texting on the drive there, i.e., not talking to me.

“Huh?”

“Your guard. That’s me tonight.”

I was a bit slow. “Okay…?”

A faint grin from him. He was being patient with me. “We are taking your brother’s vehicle. Both his guards are going. You won’t need both of your guards, so Mr. Harkman will remain behind here.”

“Oh!” Then I grinned. “Harkman. I like it.”

We were nearing the parking garage when I thought of it. “Could you do me a favor?”

He glanced to me just as the elevator stopped.

“I need to do work in the car. It’s difficult if Matt’s talking. Can you distract him for me?”

His mouth twitched before smoothing back into a blank wall. “Sure. I can do that.”

The elevator opened. I was guessing Harkman was the guard standing just inside the garage, because we walked past. He and Scott did a nod thing to each other. I faltered, because instead of the normal SUV, it was a limo.

Matt’s guard opened the back door and Matt was there, grinning. He saluted me with a drink in hand. “We’re late, sis. Figured we should do it in style.”

Guy’s face poked out from the inside of the limo. He smiled wide at me. “Heya, Bailey. Guess who’s going to dinner with you guys?”

My stomach bottomed out. “Oh no.”

His grin only widened. “Oh yes.”

I slid inside, or started to.

I paused midslide, with one leg still outside, because Guy wasn’t alone.

Tony was inside. He was at the far end of the limo. Guy was on the couch that ran the length of the limo. Matt and I went to the back.

Scott bent down, looking inside, assessing the situation.