Total pages in book: 30
Estimated words: 28180 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 141(@200wpm)___ 113(@250wpm)___ 94(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 28180 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 141(@200wpm)___ 113(@250wpm)___ 94(@300wpm)
“Are you paying attention, Emma?”
She licked her lips but fastened her green orbs on my face and nodded. They were burning with lust, but I also saw sadness and compassion for the boy I’d been.
“I was determined to keep these foster kids from going through experiences like that, so I started siphoning money directly from the state coffers and providing the children with the things they should have been receiving from their guardians. I also started taking on small hacking jobs to build a savings account so I could go to college. I was careful, though, always making sure that nothing I did resulted in anyone getting hurt. Mostly, it was stealing from people like corrupt CEOs and returning lost pensions to their employees. By the time I turned eighteen and headed off to NYU, I’d gained a reputation. I was approached by someone in the business who claimed to have the same altruistic goals, and we teamed up.”
Finally naked, I waited to continue until I’d climbed in beside Emma and plastered her up against me.
“Unfortunately, I was too trusting, and it took me a while to realize that Patrick was attempting to slowly manipulate me into jobs that were all about the money and didn’t help anyone. It didn’t seem as though we were hurting anyone, though, so I went along with a few of them while I tried to figure out how to extricate myself from my partner.
“Then one day, I looked a little deeper into a job. While I’d been told that we were bankrupting a wealthy man who was stealing from his own charity, it turned out we hadn’t taken anything from him. Instead, we’d drained the rest of the money from the charity and let the man go on the run with his millions. In fact, he was the one who hired us in the first place.
“The charity was about to be shut down, and though they’d been losing money to the owner’s thieving, they’d still been helping people. I couldn’t stand knowing that I was the reason why these people would be tossed to the wolves once again. I needed to figure out a way to put everything right. The only way I could pry the money from my partner and prove the wrong dealings of our employer was to turn over everything that had to do with the job.
“If given the right amount of time, I might have been able to erase my involvement, but it would have been too late to save the charity. So, I turned myself in to the FBI, along with all the information they needed to go after Patrick and our employer.”
The feel of Emma’s body against mine was becoming a huge distraction, but I took a deep breath and powered through.
“I was only twenty-one when all of this went down. It was my first offense and I came to them, delivering the other two men, so they cut me a deal. House arrest, and I was banned from use of the internet and anything to do with computers. Still, I have a conviction on my record. Luckily, I’d already finished school, or I wouldn’t have been able to graduate. I didn’t have the faintest clue what I would do with my life. Then a few months into my sentence, the FBI came knocking at my door. They wanted my help to catch a cybercriminal. It was basically what I’d set out to do in the first place, before I met Patrick. But this time, the crimes being committed were so much worse. Things I couldn’t have even imagined. That’s why I started the Deveraux Foundation for the victims of cybercrimes. Helping foster kids and people who’d been scammed just wasn’t enough. Of course, that wasn’t until after my time with the FBI.
“You see, in exchange for working with them, I could earn time off my sentence and they gave me limited access to tech again. After I’d worked off my time, I stuck with it, helping the FBI, for a paycheck this time, for another three years. Along the way, they allowed me to take private jobs, though these were beefing up security for other companies, rather than chasing criminals, and my company was born. The feds still keep an eye on me, but as long as I help them out from time to time, they don’t sensor my cyber activities.
“I promise you, Emma, my wealth was earned. The life you and I live was not built outside the law. I would never put you in a position like that.” I’d been staring over her head as I talked, knowing if I looked at her beautiful face and kissable lips, I’d never get through the explanation before succumbing to my need to fuck her until she had no doubt where she belonged.