I can't keep the smile off my face as I take my seat on the plane. I slide my bag under the seat and lean back. I close my eyes and let a blissful smile grace my face. He said I wouldn't be able to run. As if. I'm vaguely aware of someone taking the seat next to mine, but I pay no attention to said person. "So where we headed?" I choke on my own spit as my eyes fly open and whirl around to face the owner of the familiar voice. His eyes are hidden behind those damn sunglasses and a rather smug smile graces his face. I continue choking and he does nothing other than flip through a magazine. That smug smile never leaving his face. "You still haven't answered the question." "To hell." I finally manage to choke out. "Awesome," He flips a page in the magazine, "It's about time I returned home. You know, bodies to burn, lost souls to torture, I've missed it. It'll be fun." *** Nicolette Moore. A name law enforcement agencies across the world know. Though no one's ever seen the face of the world's greatest thief and hacker, everyone knows who she is by name. Nicky. She's an absolute genius. Once upon a time she wasn't the best person in the world. When her family was struggling she made some bad choices to help them through it, but when she tried to get out she got pulled in deeper. Ryder Stevenson. He's the son of the director of the FBI, and an FBI Agent himself. He's the one who brings in Nicky to get her protection from the people chasing after her. He's also the one, who gets assigned to protect her. Neither one of them like each other, and they can't go five minutes without getting in a full blown argument. She's constantly ditching him only for him to show up later and prove to her he's not that easy to get rid of. They're stuck with each other whether they like it or not. But he doesn't know who she really is. What will he do when he finds out? An FBI Agent protecting THE Hacker. The one the FBI have been after for years...this just screams chaos.

"When I tell you that he hates me, you'll probably assume it's because he's a jerk...but you'd be wrong. He's not a jerk. I am." --- Several years ago tragedy struck Emma's home, leaving her broken... like a cup with cracks spiraling and slithering around the edges. Slowly, bitterness crept in like tar, hardening between each fracture to resemble a deceitful wholeness. She became a monster, and targeted her venom on the sweetest person she could find: Trinity Nixon. Too bad the boy Emma longed for was Trinity's brother. Now, as Emma fights to win the heart of the boy who despises her, she's forced to hide her demons. She paints her fragile cup in pinks, yellows, and oranges - all the colors of the sun. She paints on a smile, and an unusual sense of humor, so that the world will view her as bright and cheerful, when in reality she's breaking. But she's completely unprepared for the acidic truth that melts away the tar, demolishing her shell, and awakening the Emma White buried deep inside. --- Book 1 in The Dismantled Pride series *Story was previously titled "Faking It"