Total pages in book: 181
Estimated words: 171979 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 860(@200wpm)___ 688(@250wpm)___ 573(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 171979 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 860(@200wpm)___ 688(@250wpm)___ 573(@300wpm)
She turned in her seat, looking toward the door. There had to be a way to bust out of this jail. She designed games; she should be able to figure out a way out of here. All the officers she had met so far were definitely not gamers, and she was Valkyrie …
“No, they won’t let you vape in your cell, but—”
Dragging her gaze from the steel door, she focused back on him, at his calm voice, to see him reach into his briefcase.
“I do have this. It was going to be my lunch. Do you like N—”
“Nutty Buddy!” Valerie practically snatched it from his hand. Ripping open the package, she could tell at first bite it wasn’t the generic shit she had been eating recently, either. If she weren’t too busy shoving it down her throat, she’d lean over and give him a big ole chocolatey, peanut buttery kiss.
“Listen, the police aren’t going to let you near any computers, especially your own.” He got back to business while she finished her snack. “And they’ve executed a search warrant. Are they going to find anything incriminating?”
She started fanning herself. “The only thing they’ll find are the games I’m developing and the games I play.” Nervously, she looked away while she continued chewing the last bite.
“That’s all?” Kent Bryant searched her expression. The dude was giving her vibes he didn’t believe her. He was slipping on his attractiveness scale. Why did he doubt her?
Her chest puffed out in indignation. “I worked for the Horseshoe before they fired me. They’ll find some work-related correspondence,” she admitted. “I warned them a kindergartener could get past their firewalls, and I was terminated for my trouble.”
“That’s all?”
His relentless stare had her sucking her chest back in.
“When I got fired, I might have sent the dude who fired me a tiny bug in an email …”
Kent exasperatedly rubbed at his temples. “What kind of bug?”
“Nothing bad, per se … Just … every time my boss, Edmond, sent an email to other employees, the emails would also be sent to the CEO. I wanted him to find out that Edmond is undermining his authority. I tried to tell him that before I was terminated, but he didn’t want to listen any more than when I had warned him about the firewalls. I sent another email the next day fixing the bug.”
Her attorney stared at her stone-faced. He was much less attractive when he wasn’t smiling. “You just made my job much harder.”
To be fair, she had probably dropped in his estimation at her confession.
“It was just a harmless prank,” she tried her best to excuse herself.
“The judge won’t see it that way.”
“The judge didn’t have to work for the Horseshoe.” She continued rather frankly, “They’re dicks.”
“Is there anything else you need to tell me?” he asked, clearly urging her to think hard.
“No …” God, she needed her Twizzlers. “You got anything else to eat in the briefcase? Or a vape I can take a hit of?”
He shook his head before one of his eyebrows slowly rose. “You don’t seem sure.”
Damn.
Her shoulders slumped forward. She wasn’t going to see any of those sweet red vines in her near future. “I think I need a break.”
“Valerie—” he tried coaxing her again more forcibly, “is there anything else you need to tell me?”
She wanted to cry. The fantasy of him ever carrying her groceries in for her finally bit the dust.
“Not in the computer, per se … But does taking their scrap computer parts count?”
SEVEN
THE AUDACITY OF THE MAN
Two million fucking dollars? She wasn’t fucked …
Valerie was royally fucking fucked.
With it being Monday, she had officially been in jail for well over forty-eight hours, and the withdrawals were definitely starting to hit even more.
Hearing approaching footsteps, she thought she’d try again for the millionth time. “I’m starving! What’s a girl gotta do to get some food around here?”
Officer Daniels came into view on the other side of her cage. He had been avoiding her all weekend, and she knew it, because he hadn’t once looked in her direction when he walked down the hall, no matter how much she called out to him. However, his eyes traveling down to her empty food tray on the cell floor told her his time of ignoring her was over.
“You just ate,” he said in exasperation.
“Okay, then …” Those words had only set her off as she began correcting herself. “What’s a girl gotta do to get some good freaking food around he—”
Her screaming came to a halt when Officer Daniels unlocked the door, swung it open, and nonchalantly said through her tirade, “You’re free to go.”
Valerie rapidly blinked in shock and wondered if she’d heard him correctly. “What?”
He placed strong hands on his belt and took an intimidating step forward. “I said, you’re free to go, Monroe, or would you like to stay here another night?”