Seducing Texas (So not Prince Charming #2)(13)

“Yes,” Willa says. I’m not so sure I would’ve told Dad. He may tell his traitorous Mom. She’s come up to see him a few times. She’s used to seeing her family in prison. The oldest son will never get out.

“Good.” He looks down the aisle at another Hispanic man a few chairs down. He’s covered in gang tats. He could be one of Manny’s. “There are other files besides Manny’s books. Manny kept rival information at mi Mamá’s home on the tablet he gave her. I stole everything I found. There’s an encrypted file of his competitors’ rival deals and their contacts, and I found other files that I couldn’t read. He doesn’t want you to get them and neither do his rivals.”

Juarez. He must know. This just keeps getting better. There could be multiple gangs coming after us. Shane could protect me in Alaska, but these gangs have hundreds of hombres in the Border States.

“At the time, Manny knew you didn’t have the drive, but you were a liability because you’d worked the books,” he whispers. “I shouldn’t have let you do them.”

“I still am a liability,” I toss back, and so is Willa. She doesn’t need to know. She’s already nervous about the mess Dad left us.

“Not with the information you have,” Dad says. “He will leave you alone.”

I bet not. “Dad, he won’t. He wants the flash drive. You need to tell us whatever weaknesses your brother has.”

He looks up as if thinking. “His ego. He thinks he’s smarter than anyone else.”

He’s not that, but he has more men holding guns than us, but his ego has made mistakes, like the men he hired to kill me.

“I haven’t found the hidden files on the flash drive.” If I have copies of rival dealings, that wouldn’t be good. I have no idea what would be on the other files Dad mentioned. “I made multiple copies of the drive, and they’re in a few states.” Hoping I’d run into Mr. Granite Hard Body Shane, I’d spent the money to fly back to Fairbanks for a brief time. It’s far enough away to give me some insurance.

“The hidden files won’t copy unless you explicitly tell them to,” Dad says. “Having that drive will ensure your safety. That would bring down his entire organizations and others.”

“We aren’t safe, Dad.” The original is here in Austin along with the only copies of the hidden files, but handing over Manny’s drug dealing transactions and clients will only make us targets. Killing Manny means his rivals will fight over his territory and be out of our lives for years. “How do I copy the hidden files?”

He shakes his head. “You’ll need an app.”

Dad’s eyes fill with more tears. “I miss her. If I had cut my ties with my family, none of this would’ve happened.”

We all miss Mom, but Manny has to go.

Willa continues to touch the glass to connect with him. I don’t feel so generous. I need to talk to Shane to figure out how to get the other files off the flash drive and make a few backups.

While my dad cries, a part of my hardened heart cracks. Mom loved him. She constantly told me how much so. Is my love for Shane like her love for Dad? Blind and stupid? Most of the time I can’t think straight when Shane’s around probably because we have mind-blowing sex.

We stay for the allotted time, and he blows kisses to us, like Mom showed him. It’s sweet.

On the way home, I study the rearview mirror so hard for anyone following us I almost drive off the road a few times.

“You don’t have to keep watching. I’m doing it,” Willa says. “Do you think Manny will come after us still?”

“He came after me before.” Which makes me worry about Willa. If he wanted to get to me, he would take her.





Chapter Shane


It’s been a few days since I’ve seen Cyn, and already I’m going through withdrawal. I asked her to come in at least on Fridays to straighten the books in order to make a payment to the IRS and keep them off my back, and it’s only Wednesday. I don’t like that she won’t just put in forty hours. I’d pay her for them, even if she gets the work done quickly. Hell, I just want to see her.

I finished writing the packet sniffer to trace the routing of the Internet a few days ago, but so far, there’s been no traffic on that questionable port or any others.

Timmons has been pretty silent, but he’s interested in what I’m doing and the feds want to buy the software I wrote. Things are looking up. The payments will keep the IRS from crawling up my ass, so I hope I won’t have to play ball with Niki for much longer. I can’t stand to be around her.

I walk out onto the floor to check on the latest updates to add amateur sports. These are free to meet up at, but the advertising popups will pay for the dating service. It’s a win-win. Hookups are free, and we’ve already got several big clients looking to run ads.

Walking past the break room, I spot my girls caffeinating. I nod, and Sonia hurries over to me.

“Hey,” she says, her hand grasping my elbow. “I should have the pages up today. They’re going through QA this morning.”

This girl is always a little too friendly. “Sounds good.”

“You want to get a drink tonight?”

“I’ll take everyone out on Friday.”