Page 76 of Radiant Exception
After years of toxic or shallow relationships, being with Vaughn was like a breath of fresh air. Suddenly, without him, I felt like I couldn’t breathe.
It was difficult not to think about him and instead direct my attention to the task at hand, but it was too important to falter now.
Just like we’d talked about, I spent the first few hours I had alone after our fake separation in Cassidy’s room, sweeping for listening devices and cameras, while placing a few of my own. As we’d hoped, he appeared to have been lax in his security measures. Maybe he thought there would be nothing to find, but what we needed was footage of his comings and goings that he couldn’t erase.
Vaughn and Darren were taking shifts monitoring the channels I set up to broadcast.
The real challenge was going to be planting recording devices in his office. I’d done a preliminary scan of his office and there were several anomalies that shouldn’t have been there, which meant that he had recording devices of his own, which might out me if I got caught trying to place anything while he was gone.
I was, however, able to set up equipment just outside the hallways so we could see and hear him if his door was open, or watch his movement about the ship, all of which could be helpful. Instead of risking planting devices, I’d suggested I simply try to hang out more with Cassidy in his office to try to confirm his whereabouts to compare to the fabricated log that continued to be tampered with, showing erroneous network access timestamps.
It was on one of those mornings that I put into motion a plan that would have me going a bit rogue. If executed correctly, it could give us everything we needed. If I was discovered, it would be the end of everything.
While we were supposed to be on opposite shifts, which initially removed some awkwardness from having to share a bed, I recognized the earnestness in Cassidy’s demeanor when I was around. He was figuratively frothing at the mouth at the thought of having a real shot with me. So us keeping our distance felt like the wrong call for this final push in the mission.
Instead, I’d only sleep for a couple hours and then curl up on the sofa in his office and talk while he worked. It was difficult to be around him, knowing what he’d done, and the sheer number of people that were gone because of him and Meridian, but as a well-trained operative, I had to switch off that part of my brainand inhabit a version of myself—a character, if you will—that was numb to those thoughts. Everything was resting on how thoroughly I could convince Cassidy that we had a future together.
I wouldn’t fail.
I couldn’t.
“You’re up early,” Cassidy noted as he scrolled through his comm. “Did you miss me?” He grinned at me over the screen.
“Maybe,” I said through a laugh as I closed the door behind me before dropping into one of the chairs across from his desk.
“Did you need something?” He set the comm down and looked up at me curiously, his eyes flicking to the closed door, then back to me.
“No…” I sunk further into the chair. “I had a weird dream about Xavier, and I couldn’t get back to sleep.”
“Oh.” He raised a brow, encouraging me to continue.
This wasn’t part of the scheme Vaughn and I had concocted, but I was running out of time to get the answers I so desperately needed. This might be my last chance to get some modicum of closure.
“Was he the reason you never tried anything?”
Cassidy’s lips parted as he took in the question, but then nodded slowly.
What I said next was a risk, but one I had to take. “I know you guys were still talking in college.”
Cassidy leaned back in his chair, a look of regret crossing his face.
“I thought you might be upset with me, when you never reached out to me, even after you reconnected with him.” I looked up at him through my lashes, hoping he didn’t see right through me.
“I was working on a business idea that took off and needed his advice on some encryption stuff,” Cassidy offered, confirming my suspicions. “I asked him about you, and he…” Cassidy seemed to want to choose his words carefully. “He just said you were doing well and that I shouldn’t bother you.”
“You shouldn’t have listened to him,” I forced through my teeth, somehow managing a coy smile. Every nerve in my body was on fire as I fought the urge to continue with where I planned on leading this conversation.
Vaughn was going to kill me when he realized what I was up to. Even I had to admit it was less about getting an outright confession and more about asking the questions I’d been searching for, for years, to get what I felt I needed to move on.
Cassidy cocked his head. “No?”
I leaned forward, making sure he had a good view of my cleavage against his desk. “He told me, ya know.”
Cassidy’s jaw clenched.
“I know who you are.” I held his gaze.
He stayed still, save for gulping, as he waited on pins and needles for me to expose the truth.
