Tech Baddie Hot

"You know that they'll come for you eventually, right?" My adopted father and mentor looked at me with a grin, but I didn't find it amusing at all. "I don't think this is something to joke about."

"I'm not joking, dad," I replied with a casual shrug. "I'm just thinking about you being all tough for the guys." When I said "guys," it didn't really fit because they were grown men—big, full-grown men.

He grumbled and shifted the papers on his sturdy oak desk. The London skyline served as a backdrop, with twinkling lights all around. He let out a deep sigh, his shoulders tensing up. Anxiety etched his face as he ran a hand through his long black hair.

"I'm not threatening you for them. They said it... I just felt I should forward the message."

"Alright!" I raised a palm in mock surrender and said, "Message received, loud and clear."

He frowned. "But you still won't come home?"

My throat squeezed at his tone. "You know I can't."

"It's dangerous for you to be out there alone."

"Nothing is more dangerous than being at home."

"At least at home, there's someone to protect you."

"If I will always need a protector, what do I need all this tech for?" I knew that my eyes were glowing now, and my system flickered to life inside me. "I should just get it removed and call Viber Tech now, ready to hand over all my designs."

"Hey!" He shouted, "Don't you dare do that. Don't you dare let that animal take what you worked so hard to do. And damn you for threatening to do that."

"That's what has happened anyway, dad." Tears gathered at the corners of my eyes, and my voice broke. Frustration gripped me, and I promised myself I wouldn't cry. "I'm just trying to make this right."

"By disappearing? Leaving the five behind?" Another sigh left him, his hand fisted until his knuckles turned white. "Leaving me? I'm your father, and I don't even know where you are right now."

Well, that wasn't technically true. Garett Jones wasn't really my father, though he was the one to raise me. My parents met their untimely end twelve years ago at the hands of the father of the man who now runs Viber Technologies.

I was too young and too weak to save them. That's what drove me to do what I had to do. That's why this whole situation was going to shit... is shit.

"Just know I'm safe." I tried. He looked so withdrawn, pale, and exhausted. "Have you been sleeping?"

"No." He mumbled, "How can I? You're gallivanting across the globe with no protection."

"I'm not gallivanting... I'm more... traipsing." I laughed.

"This isn't funny!"

Immediately, I sobbed up. Garett was right. This was no laughing matter. Real people were after me—dangerous people—which is why I had the six in the first place, but the dream was perverted.

"I'm sorry, Garett." His wandering gaze latched onto mine again. "This isn't a joke, and I don't consider it to be. I need to do this. You have to understand."

"I don't understand, Rose." He tapped his fingers on the desk, staring pensively out in front of him. "But there's nothing I can do about it."

"There, that's the spirit!"

"That doesn't mean I'll stop the six."

My throat struggled to swallow. "They won't find me either; please tell them to stop looking."