Dark Secret - Avelyn Paige Page 0,34
as I near my release for a second time. My breaths become choppy, and I come, basking in the pleasure.
Wyatt groans softly, holding me to him as he releases, giving me what used to be mine. What should have always been mine.
He holds himself above me, his lips grazing the tip of my nose, my brow, and finally my lips.
As our heartbeats slowly level out, I don’t move a muscle. As much as I’m enjoying being in the arms of the only man I’ve ever loved, I can’t help but wonder: what now?
The question plays over and over in my mind for the hundredth time when my cell phone chimes.
Wyatt drops his head and groans, rolling to his side. My heart warms a little when he doesn’t pull away completely. He leaves a hand on my waist as I lean to the side to reach for my phone.
“It’s from Kasey,” I say, using my thumb to unlock the screen.
Kasey: Blox World files are in. I’ve forwarded them to your email so you can get started, but also have hard copies here at the office. If you need them, I can deliver them tomorrow.
I lift my gaze to meet Wyatt’s, hope blooming in my heart. “We have the files.”
Hashtag
Shelby stands, looking over my shoulder as I click the link Kasey sent to her phone. It takes me to a virtual cloud folder filled with subfolders, organized by date.
“There has to be hundreds,” she murmurs.
“You ready for this?” A question I didn’t know if I could answer honestly myself. Looking at her conversations is a necessary evil to help find her or her online friend. But knowing what could be lurking inside of them is bothering me more than I care to admit out loud. I’ve seen for myself the sadistic shit predators say and do to groom kids online with some of the work I’ve done for the club. Those fuckers deserve to rot in hell, and this guy would be getting a one-way ticket the second I found his ass. There’ll be no running from what I have planned for him.
“We have to do this for her, Wyatt. Even if…” She trails off, tears glistening in her eyes. “What if she sent him things?”
“We’ll deal with it together, Shelby, and when we get her home.”
“You mean if we get her home.”
“When we get her home, we’ll be having our first family meeting about internet safety while I install every type of tracking software known to man on her and her electronics for the rest of her life.”
Shelby tries to smile, but it doesn’t reach her eyes.
With a deep sigh, I dive in and click on the first folder, dated nearly a year ago.
P4r4D0X: Cool castle.
P4r4D0X: Do you like mine?
P4r4D0X: Hello?
A conversation that went without a reply. The next few are similar messages that again show no replies from Hayden’s username. Whoever was sitting on the other side of the screen clearly wasn’t getting the hint that she didn’t want to chat. If he was looking for an easy mark, he’d have moved on quickly to someone interested in chatting with him. The fact that he hadn’t given up after so many weeks of silence is surprising, which begs the question: what changed? I find my answer a few more folders down, dated six months ago.
P4r4D0X: You have a logic error in your coding.
HayDay: No, I don’t.
P4r4D0X: The second level door won’t open. I can fix it for you.
HayDay: No.
The fucker pointed out a flaw in her build, and she responded back. He knew what he was doing, no doubt about it. He waited and kept trying until he dangled bait to get her to respond, knowing that a serious coder wouldn’t take lightly to someone questioning their skills.
“He baited her.”
“He what?”
“Outwardly questioning someone’s work is a huge insult in the coding community. He had to have watched her build and found, or maybe even created the error himself in order to open the door to talking to her.”
“Why would he do that? With what you’ve mentioned about the game’s safeguards, how would he have known he was talking to a teenager?”
“That’s the million-dollar question. When did she start playing in the tournaments for Blox World?”
Her beautiful lips thin as she thinks. “The first one was a few months back… April, I think. Why? Do you think she may have met this guy at one? I always went with her.”
“It’s a possibility. But let’s see what else we can find.”
My attention