He smiled with one side of his mouth. “I like that word on your lips.” His chest flared, like he was gathering himself. “This is what I know. That day we met—that fateful little moment? I was at the climax of finally getting the revenge I'd been desperate for. I had no intention of staying in this city once I was done. I was ready to forget everything.”
Every answer he spit just gave me new questions. I didn't want to stop the flow of information I was getting, so I sat on my hands and listened quietly.
Silver said, “A year after robbing those bastards, you still lingered in my thoughts. Fuck, it was frustrating!” Laughing without humor, he hung his head. He was speaking to the floor, or maybe himself. I felt like an observer. “You were no one, and I was becoming someone. I used money and my growing power to invest in more of both. It was easy, and finding women to distract myself with was even easier.”
A splinter of disgust stabbed into me. Stop. Fucking stop. I was here for answers, not to question if learning the truth would divide Silver and me even more. I didn't want to be connected! He'd wronged me... and I had to keep that in my heart.
I had to.
“No matter how many girls I screwed, though... at the end of everything, as I fell asleep or my mind wandered, you were there.” He lifted his eyes, burning me like an ageless sun. “You, Alexis Willow. The girl from my past.”
My blood flash-flooded my veins, making my heart pound.
In the recess of his voice, I sensed his sincerity. “I knew I had to make you my present.”
Clutching at the sides of my knees, I summoned pain, fear, anything to smother my rising delight. No matter how I tried, I couldn't get my rage to clog the path to my soul.
My voice cracked. “You came back just to be with me?” A wave of light-headedness made me sway where I sat. “How did you even find me?”
“I had your name.” He cracked a wider grin. “I've got some talent with using information, remember? I'm the infamous hacker that got away.” It should have felt like he was bragging. It didn't. “I've been watching you for so long, trying to grasp what made you so chronically addicting.”
“So you were stalking me,” I whispered.
“Yes. When you asked me that on our first date, I was surprised.”
First date? “I still don't understand. What did I do to you?” How had I affected this bold, impossibly forceful man?
Silver leaned forward. His fingers crushed the rim of the desk, knuckles turning white. “That day in the bank, do you remember what we talked about?”
“I don't know. I really don't.”
“Money, right?”
I breathed out through my nose. “Yes. You were robbing the damn bank, of course it was about money.”
He chuckled, and the sound made me stare at him. “Not my money. Yours. Alexis, you offered me everything you had.”
Had I done that? Digging back, I remembered what he meant. I'd handed him my bank info, imploring him to take the money I'd set aside. I'd wanted him to leave everyone alone, flee before an errant bullet was fired from him or a brave cop.
Silver gripped the desk harder, I waited for the wood to splinter. “You needed that money, didn't you?”
“It was going to be for college. For leaving the city.” Acid bubbled on my tongue. “I spent it all on therapy instead. It took me forever to handle my anxiety well enough to get a fucking job.”
“Because of me.” It wasn't a question.
“Because of you, yes.”
His eyes were hooded, no light touching the black centers. The sun hit him from behind, extending his shadow so that as it stretched over the room, floating an inch from me on the rug.
Finally, he must have realized what he'd done to me years ago. What he was still doing by continuing to reach out to me. Did he feel regret? Did he feel anything at all?
Silver's voice was so low that I had to strain to hear him. “You were the first person I'd ever met that knew that money wasn't as important as someone's life.” His chin touched his chest, I couldn't see his expression. “I'll say it again. I never planned to hurt you that day.”
With great effort, I kept myself steady. “What about now?”
His eyes shot up, raw and wild. “Excuse me?”
Silver had hacked another bank, the radio had told me. If the first hadn't been enough, why was this one any different? There was a chance people would get caught in the middle the longer he was on the streets.
People who might not be lucky enough to survive with just emotional scars, like me.
My stomach ate itself as I weighed my question. “Do you even think about anyone else, or do you just want more money?”
“Why would I...” He locked up. “Ah. You've been watching the news.”
Pulling my numb hands up, I gestured around the luxurious office. “You have all this, why are you stealing more?”
“You're right, I'm rich. Why would I rob anyone?”
He was challenging me to come up with a reason. As I hunched there, my hands balling into fists... I slowly let my arms drift to the floor. He was right, why would he risk robbing another bank if he didn't need the money?
Licking my lips, I said, “You wouldn't. You're saying it's not you.”