The Hacker

"You still love her, don't you?" (12)

Brynne opened the front door to Micah's house and kicked her shoes off before closing the door and leaning against it. The bomb her mother dropped on her earlier had shaken up her life in ways she didn't expect... or could explain. She pulled her phone out from her bag and decided to call Micah. She needed to hear his voice.

"Is everything okay?" he answered; not used to her calling him in the middle of the day.

"Everything's fine. I just wanted to talk,"

"What happened?"

He knew her enough by now to know that something must have happened.

"My mom says she's moving back to New York,"

"Isn't that a good thing?" she heard his office phone ring in the background.

"I'm not sure,"

"Do you feel happy about it?"

"I'm more confused," she looked down at her feet.

"Let's talk more when I get home, okay?" he said to her as she heard his office phone ring again.

"No problem,"

Brynne walked towards his study and opened her laptop with the intent to do some studying. She couldn't help but feel as if her mother was hiding something... if Kai wasn't on his vacation in the mid-west, she would have asked him to do some digging but she would respect his boundaries and not bother him on vacation.

Smiling, she could imagine Kai at his childhood home in Ohio reconnecting with his family. She hoped he was having a good time.

_____________________

Drifting in and out of consciousness, Kai knew he was in trouble. He didn't know where the hell he was but he knew for sure he had to get out. He had to warn Amira.

Opening his eyes, he looked around through the foggy haze of his mind and noticed he was laying down. The room wasn't as dark as he expected. He fought the heaviness he felt in his bones and managed to sit up on the little bed he was on.

Looking ahead, he saw steel bars instead of a door. Standing, he hopped his way towards them only to see that there were other rooms with steel bars. The only light offered to them came from beneath a big door at the end of the hallway.

Kai began to panic as he realised he was in a holding cell.

What the fuck happened?

It was then he felt the tenderness in his upper right arm. He pulled the sleeve up to see a small red spot where a needle was inserted.

What the actual fuck? He screamed in his mind. Someone had kidnapped him and drugged the hell out of him.

At first, he wondered if Tom's threat was true and he had people waiting to avenge him... but what would he be doing in a holding cell?

—his thoughts were cut short when the big door at the end of the hall opened up.

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After spending a few hours studying for her upcoming finals, Brynne decided to take a break and visit her father at the office. She didn't need to see him for anything really, but she had just wanted to see him.

What her mother had said to her earlier was still riding on her brain and she couldn't be alone with those thoughts. She had heard part of the story from her mother so now she wanted to hear it fully from her father.

He was sitting by his desk when she opened his office door. Folders were stacked to one side of his desk while he flipped through his notepad. Despite having advanced technology, her father still preferred to jot down his notes in his notebook.