Page 24 of Unbound

“No, it’s fine. I totally get it.” Sybil pinches Titus’s cell phone between her ear and shoulder as her fingers fly across the keyboard of her laptop. Her eyes flick my way, moving up and down where I stand before going back to the computer. “Just don’t judge me for anything you find.”

After thirty seconds of typing, she slumps back in the chair, hands dropping to her lap as her computer screen continues changing. She watches as Heidi takes over, digging into everything my little tornado has been up to.

And Sybil is absolutely a tornado. In twenty-four hours she’s managed to get herself in the middle of a shooting, had her former hotel room ransacked, and nearly started a fire while sneaking around my house. I’m not sure what everyone else is planning if we discover she’s not a threat, but there’s no way I can send her off on her own. She’ll get herself killed.

Sybil’s screen goes black, and she rubs her lips together as Heidi speaks through the line. Again, Sybil’s eyes come my way. “Can you blame me?”

The sound of Heidi’s laugh is loud enough it startles me. Her voice carries equally well as she says, “Not at all.”

After a few more minutes, Sybil’s computer screen repopulates and she turns to Titus, handing over his phone. “She wants to talk to you now.”

My cousin takes his phone, tipping his head toward the door. He files out first and we all follow, leaving Sybil alone with her laptop. If he’s not worried about her accessing whatever’s in there, I’m not going to worry about it either.

Okay, maybe I’m gonna worry about it a little. I’m starting to get a little suspicious the woman has no sense of self-preservation. Hopefully Heidi can keep a digital eye on her and make sure she doesn’t get herself in any more trouble.

Unless the two of them form an alliance and create trouble together.

Fuck. Maybe introducing her to Heidi was the wrong move.

Titus strides down the entryway hall to the kitchen. He sets his phone on the counter and switches it to speaker. “What did you find?”

There’s a pause. I swear I can feel Heidi’s deep breath, and it has me stepping closer, wondering what secrets Sybil has been keeping.

“I found enough to say with complete confidence that you should hire her for your team.” Heidi snorts. “If you don’t, Pierce will, and I sort of like being the most terrifying girl in the building.”

That has my brows lifting. “Terrifying?”

“Most people don’t like when someone has the ability to ruin their lives, and your girl has the skillset to make one hell of a mess.” The sound of Heidi typing on her keyboard carries through the line. “Believe it or not, I’ve actually heard of her before.”

“You’ve heard of Sybil?” I meet Titus’s gaze, his expression as confused as mine. “Where?”

“I didn’t know it was Sybil at the time. Hackers generally use handles to help protect their identity. Like I said, people don’t appreciate it when someone has the ability to ruin their lives.” Heidi barely pauses for a breath. “But it’s part of my job to pay attention when someone new appears out of nowhere and seems skilled enough to cause problems.”

“What sort of problems?” Titus asks.

“Nothing you have to worry about if she’s on your side.” There’s a smile in Heidi’s voice when she adds on. “And I am pretty confident she’s on your side.”

Titus seems to relax the smallest bit, rolling his shoulders back as he lets out a long exhale. “What makes you think that?”

“You’re just going to have to trust me on this.” Heidi grunts like she’s stretching. “I’m going to go. I downloaded all the files from Sybil’s computer. I’ll keep going through them, but so far I don’t see anything that would make me concerned she has something to do with what’s been going on.”

Toby leans forward. “Then why is she here?”

It’s a question I might be able to answer, but I don’t. Especially now that Heidi believes Sybil is no threat. Her reasons for tracking my family down are private and sensitive. If she wants them to know, she’ll tell them herself.

“You’ll have to ask her that.” I expect Heidi to hang up, but instead she leaves us with one final bit of advice.

“Have Walker do it. I’ve got a feeling she’ll tell him anything he wants to know.”

8

Sybil

That went… Better than I expected. Heidi didn’t give away any of my secrets, so I wasn’t outed as a total stalker.

Only a partial one.

But honestly, I have a good reason for everything saved to my hard drive. It’s all for the greater good. To find out the truth about what happened to my dad. And maybe even the truth about what happened to Walker’s mom. Of course, I had to know what he looked like to be able to recognize him when our paths finally crossed. It only makes sense I would have a few photographs of him saved.