White-Hot Hack (Kate and Ian #2)(85)

Shortly after Joshua Morrison walked out of prison, Charlie had been sitting in his office at FBI headquarters on an otherwise normal Tuesday when a message popped up on his computer screen: WE KNOW WHO YOU ARE. Charlie had known immediately who’d sent it, and before he started dating Jade, it hadn’t bothered him much. “My badge came with a gun,” he’d told Ian. “I’m not concerned.”

But even after he’d fallen in love with Jade, he kept her at arm’s length because he worried about putting her at risk. She set him straight one day and told him that after she lost her husband, she vowed not to worry about things that might never happen. She lived her life in the moment, and Charlie decided that sounded like a good plan for him too.



They ate dinner on the lawn with a breathtaking view of the ocean. Adults and children alike gathered at a long rectangular table and dined on blackened snapper and marinated tuna caught fresh that morning. There was shrimp and steak and crab, and so many side dishes that Kate reminded everyone to save room for birthday cake.

They brought it out after dinner—a large sheet cake for the guests and a small single-layer cake for the birthday boy. Kate stuck a candle in the shape of the number one into the center of it, and after she lit it, they all crowded around Spyder to sing. On the third stanza, everyone but Ian’s mother sang, “Happy Birthday, dear Spyder,” because Ellen had never been able to call her grandson anything but William.

Kate stripped him down to his diaper when they finished singing and set the small cake on the tray of his high chair. He grabbed fistfuls of cake and smeared frosting in his hair, and when all that was left of it was a smashed pile of sticky crumbs, they took him swimming because a dip in the ocean would always be infinitely more fun than the bathtub.



The sun sank lower on the horizon, and the sky filled with streaks of pink and orange. The excitement of the day had finally caught up with Spyder, and he’d fallen asleep facedown on Ian’s chest, still wrapped in his beach towel. Kate, Kristin, and Jade were watching as Shelby and Molly dipped wands into a bucket of soap suds and ran across the grass, their giant bubbles trailing behind them. Diane, Susan, and his mother joined them.

“You were right,” Ian said. “There are a lot of women here.”

“Quite a few men too. Must be hard for a loner like you.”

Ian laughed and took a drink of his beer. “My wife may have convinced me life is more enjoyable when you’re surrounded by family and friends, but you can be replaced.”

“I’m not gonna lose sleep over it, Bradshaw. We both know I’m the only one who can put up with you.”

“You’re not the only one,” he said, because if he had to choose the person responsible for turning him into the man he was today, Kate would win in a landslide.

“How are things going with the company?” Charlie asked.

“We’ve got more work than we can handle.” He and Kate had grown the business at a steady rate, but they took on only the clients that interested them, and if the assignment couldn’t be done from their home office, they passed. They put in no more than three to four hours per day; less if they didn’t feel like it. And when Ian needed legal services, he need not look farther than across the breakfast table. He quite liked having his own in-house attorney.

Shelby took Grandma Ellen’s hand and attempted to pull her away from the group on the lawn, no doubt because she wanted to sing another song and knew her grandmother would always listen. His mother said a few words to Kate who smiled and nodded her head. He’d noticed that she always deferred to her, as if she wasn’t sure of her place, but Kate never once made it seem as if she didn’t have every right to be there. Maybe she came by it naturally; the Wattses were remarkable when it came to forgiveness.

“Do you miss it?” Charlie asked, and Ian didn’t have to ask him what he meant.

“Sometimes. But if you live your life convinced you’re missing out on something, that’s exactly what will happen.”



“What are my two favorite hackers up to?” Kate asked when she joined them on the deck.

Ian shifted Spyder so there was room on his lap for her.

“You don’t even want to know,” Charlie said.

“Don’t believe him,” Ian said. “He’s all talk.”

Shelby spotted them and ran to join the rest of her family. She plunked down on Kate’s lap, and Ian wrapped his arms tightly around all of them.

“Looks like your lap is pretty full there, Bradshaw,” Charlie said.

Ian smiled at Kate. “Nah. I’ve got the perfect amount of room.”



Later, Kate’s parents, his mom, and Phillip and Susan lingered at the kitchen table drinking coffee. From across the room, Ian caught Kate’s eye and beckoned her with the crook of his finger. When she reached him, he put his arms around her.

“Our beach?” he whispered in her ear.

“Yes,” she said.

Shelby and Spyder were fast asleep with no shortage of adults in the house available to do their bidding should they awaken and need anything.

The full moon cast its glow on the water as Ian drove the golf cart past the security building and Rob’s bungalow. Their destination was half a mile farther, tucked inside a small cove. It was private, and they were the only ones who were allowed there.