The Fall of East: Book 3 in the Hear No Evil Trilogy by Malone, Nana (ebook reader with internet browser .txt) 📗

He shook his head. "No, I don't love anyone else. It's just that Mina and I… It’s not working anymore. But it's beside the point." He inclined his head toward Hazel and Jameson, who looked to be going their separate ways. "What do you want to do about her?"

My gut said to follow her and leave no stone unturned, but since we had no time, I had to make a choice. "Right now, I don't think she's a threat. Let's keep an eye on Garreth. He’s absolutely up to something. We just need to figure out what.”

Chapter Ten Nyla

"I didn't realize this was going to be a team effort," East said with more than a little aggravation in his tone.

"What's the matter, East? Afraid to show everyone behind the curtain?" Telly teased.

East's hackles went up. "I don't need to worry about showing anyone what's behind the curtain. What I do is plenty fucking cool."

Watching East and Telly fight over who was the better hacker was annoying on most days. But today of all days, we needed answers. Telly had tried identifying the fingerprints, but there was a block of some sort. When she tried to access the fingerprint files on Henry Warlow, she came up against a whole lot of 'do not enters.' Bridge lifted his head and winked at me, giving me a confident smile. "Any reason why we wouldn't be able to access the server?"

"No. I can use my clearance, but someone is going to want to know what we're doing. The real question is why we can’t access this. I mean, simple fingerprints should be the easiest thing in the world to get access to. Why are we running into all these firewalls?"

Ben came in from the kitchen carrying a very large platter of something that smelled garlicy and divine. My nose made me rise up. "What in the world is that?"

"Livy has been trying to merge our two cultures. So she made these sticky buns. Pull them apart, and there’s oxtail inside."

I stared at him. "Are you kidding me right now? Give me."

East laughed. "Ah, you better give it to her before she gets her ammo. I know better than to get between that woman and food."

Ben chuckled and passed the platter to me. I grabbed my plate, pulled one apart, and heaped it high before handing the platter off to Amelia.

Telly cracked her fingers. "All right East, since you think you're so good, come on, let's do this. You and me, mano a mano."

East just rolled his eyes. "I don't have to prove anything to you, Telly. I'm a genius. Everyone knows it."

She snorted a laugh. "Just because you say you're a genius, doesn't make you an actual genius."

Livy just laughed as she took the plate from Amelia. "Look, Telly has always been like this. All you have to do is tell her that someone said they're better than her, and she's like, 'oh, watch me now.’"

I watched the man I loved act like a total moron, just because someone said she was better than him.

East narrowed his gaze at me. "I see the look you're giving me. She's not better than me. She couldn't hack the system, could she?"

Telly cursed and laughed then. "It’s not that I couldn't. It's just that there were some very clear you-shall-not-pass vibes being given off, and I don't want to go to jail. I mean, I could do the time without a problem. I saw Orange is the New Black. Some of those prison bitches are hot. But Carmen would not be pleased."

East only rolled his eyes. "Whatever. Can we get this show on the road?"

Amelia took a bite of one of her sticky buns and moaned very loudly. Telly looked up. "Oh, Amelia, suddenly I am feeling you and me and these prison vibes."

Amelia just barked a laugh. "I don't think you can handle me.”

Telly snorted. "Amelia, you dark horse."

Livy rolled her eyes. "Don't mind Telly. She flirts with everyone. Lucky for her, Carmen doesn’t mind."

Amelia grinned. "I don't mind. No one has flirted with me in weeks."

Drew came down the stairs then. "If you’d have just said so, I'd have been flirting with you weeks ago."

Amelia rolled her eyes. “Your loss. I've got this thing about married blokes."

Drew gave her a cheeky grin. "You're missing out."

"So is your wife, apparently."

Emma guffawed around her bite of oxtail sticky bun. "Oh my God, Liv, I don't know what you did, but this is… wow."

Ben nodded as he leaned against the archway to the dining room. "Yeah, love. I'm going to put on a lot of weight if you keep cooking like this.”

Livy blinked up at him. "You put that sticky bun down, sir. I'm sorry, but I have an expectation for that six-pack to stay just as it is."

He laughed. "Oh, yeah? You have to incentivize me to keep this six-pack, because right now you are enticing me to eat."

"I have my ways."

The two of them chuckled. The rest of us rolled our eyes at their incessant flirting. There was a knock at the door, and Lucas and Bryna came in. They had someone else with them. The princess. I wondered how much she knew. Princess Jessa was Lucas's sister, and her husband was Roone Ainsley, Ben's cousin, and also a Winston Isles Royal Guard. One of these days, I was going to get used to rubbing shoulders with these people.

Once we were all settled, East and Telly assumed their positions on their dueling laptops. This looked like some kind of weird video gaming competition or something, and I couldn't help but laugh. They were really going to do it. We were all sitting around watching as they hacked things. I remembered a time in my life when breaking any little rule had been out of the question.

Since meeting East, I'd broken