Page 6 of Ruthless Contract
The message had surprised me. It had seemed so ridiculous that it actually made me chuckle. So, while trying to trace her location, I’d replied to her message, letting her know I liked my coffee black, no sugar or cream.
And she’d replied quickly, saying,“Oooh, do you like your women the same? Because if you do, we can be friends.”I hadn’t expected that. But I won’t lie, it made me smile. That single message had been enough to hook me.
Because suddenly, this wasn’t just another hacker trying to steal information from me. It was a woman bold enough to flirt while doing it. I’d been fascinated with her ever since. Even her username affected me more than it should’ve.
I knew it was a play on Romeo, the name she’d started calling me almost immediately after our conversations began, proof that she’d known who I was. The woman had somehow managed to turn attempted cybercrime into foreplay.
And the worst part?
I’d let her.
Over time, her messages shifted from innocent questions about coffee and breakfast to dirtier conversations. More personal ones. She stopped asking what I liked to eat in the mornings and started asking what I’d do if she snuck into my bedroom instead of my servers.
The answer had been easy. I’d fuck her until she begged for mercy. Then I’d fuck her again for good measure. The first time she video-chatted with me, she’d shocked the hell out of me. She’d been wearing a pink mask that completely covered her face.
And she’d had on these pink and white cat ears that had given her this gamer girl vibe. As for her outfit...
I swiped my hand over my face.
Her outfit had been a white t-shirt that was sheer, so sheer I could see her nipples. One of which was pierced. And she’d had on tiny pink shorts that looked more like panties. The writing on her shirt read:Nerdy & Curvy.
That perfectly described my Juliet. Seeing her like that confirmed something I’d already known... that I needed to meet this woman. And that had begun my obsession with the hacker who called herself JulietWithCurves.
Most people in my line of work were predictable and fit into three categories: those who wanted money, those who wanted power, and those who were cruel for no reason. The latter category was the truly evil bastards.
But JulietWithCurves, she was an anomaly.
If she’d wanted to wreck my systems, she could’ve launched a real attack and been done with it. But she hadn’t. Instead, she left breadcrumbs, taunts, and games. It was almost as if she wanted me to see her, wanted me to chase her, as if the whole thing was foreplay.
Then again, that could’ve been wishful thinking on my part. She could be a genuine threat. I truly needed to take her actions more seriously, especially after today, after she hacked my cams.
Taking my glasses off, I rubbed my eyes as my office phone began ringing. I didn’t have time to stand around, thinking about my sexy cyber-criminal. I had work to do. Sliding my glasses back on, I returned to my desk and answered my phone on the third ring.
“Rome Cattaneo speaking.”
“Our meeting is in ten minutes,” Anthony informed me.
Fuck.
I glanced down at my watch. I’d almost forgotten about the meeting.
“Okay,” I told my cousin. “I’m heading to the conference room now. Does Julisa have the first quarter numbers ready?”
“She does,” Anthony replied. “She’s already in there, setting everything up.”
That was her secretary’s job. But Julisa was a bit of a control freak. I didn’t really know why we were even paying her secretary at this point.
“Heads up, she’s in a mood,” Anthony told me. “Oh, and she complained about you yesterday.”
I frowned. “Why is your wife complaining about me?” I asked, wondering what I’d done to piss Julisa off.
“Because you convinced us to leave our positions at the Louisiana branch and move to Italy to help run this place.”
“I thought she was okay with that.”
“She was,” Anthony stated. “She just didn’t realize how many people here would speak only Italian.”
“Well... we are in Italy,” I pointed out. “We have translators on hand.”
