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nAngelo Cruz had been a simple man before his father's murder. Computers and family were all he cared about. He had gotten both of those things from his father.

nHoratio Cruz had learned how to speak Java, Python, and C before he learned to speak English. He knew how important technology was becoming in the world and wanted to be sure he never missed out despite coming from humble origins.

nHe studied hard, got into a good college, and met Levi West. They were both poor boys from New York who had an interest in technology and making the world a better place for the disadvantaged after getting scholarships to MIT. They always had each other's backs and were thrilled to be recruited by the same company when they graduated with their masters' degrees.

nEverything was good in those days. They raised their children together and both of them had happy childhoods. Angelo couldn't have asked for a better father. He hardly felt his mother's absence at all with how much effort Horatio and Levi put into being there for them despite how busy they were as rising stars at Hunsacher.

nComputers and family. Angelo had seen how his father managed to balance both and wanted to be the exact same way when he grew up.

nUnfortunately, that had to happen all too soon. He had only been twenty-four, still working on his master's degree in computer science when his father had been ripped away from him. His and Avery's both.

nHe suddenly found himself thrust into a role he had never been prepared for and had to deal with his own grief and an inconsolable best friend to boot. Computers and family. He was using both to try and take down the man who murdered two of the people he loved and admired most.

nHis skills as a hacker were indispensable in continuing to build up their network of anti-Hunsacher renegades and finding missions for Avery to complete. He took advantage of his cousin Jorge, the only one old enough to justify involving in this mess, to help with insulin distribution and the woman he thought of as his own sister because he needed her father's tech.

nMeans to justify the end. He had never been able to deny her anything she truly wanted even if they had always bickered. But this time he was worried.

nAvery's role was more important than his. She was both the face and the muscle of their revolution so sometimes he had to be hard on her. Especially when it seemed like her head was off in the clouds.

nFirst, she had stupidly had a crush on the hero that constantly tried to foil their plans. Then she had to go and get into a serious relationship with a lawyer of all people! How could she get involved with a lawyer when they actively broke the law all the time?!

nAngelo didn't know what he was supposed to do about that girl. She had always been so fragile even though she put on a brave face. Hermansky-Pudlak syndrome was no joke. She had increased risk factors for a lot of things and frequently got injured until she was put inside an indestructible super suit.

nShe was impulsive too. He had been watching out for her for as long as he could remember though back in the day it was for much less serious matters.

nHe worried about her constantly even if he was afraid to show exactly how much. He believed in Levi's tech…it was Avery herself that was the problem. He didn't want to let her know how concerned he was about the things she was doing knowing how she tended to be because she would get all mushy on him.

nMushy wasn't his style. He had to be the strong one. Always had been but more so than ever after their fathers died.

nAngelo had to protect Avery. She was the person he loved most in this world now that his parents were both dead and buried. There was nothing he wouldn't do for her…even if it meant knocking some sense into her thick white skull.

nHe hadn't been happy when he saw her on the news saving Mercury of all people. How stupid could she get?! But she had the perfect excuses thought up, as she often did. She had always been a smooth talker able to get herself out of any sort of trouble.

nIt didn't stop him from worrying about her though. One of these days she was going to land herself in serious hot water she couldn't talk her way out of. What was she going to do then?

nHis stupid, lovable Güera. Nothing but trouble as always. The worthwhile kind of trouble though.

nAngelo got a notification from Instagram while he was in the middle of decrypting more of the files he had gotten from the secret room in Hunsacher headquarters. As expected, it was a picture Avery posted. She and her boyfriend had apparently gone out of town today specifically to pick apples.

nShe was beaming for all she was worth and he was gazing at her as if she was the most beautiful woman in the world as he stood with his arms around her. Such a mushy picture.

nHis biggest issue with the guy was that Christian Slater was obnoxiously in love with Avery. The kind of love that led to 2.5 kids and a white picket fence. That would never work the way they operated.

nWasn't it better not to get involved with someone when you knew things weren't going to work out? She was so impulsive and lovestruck that she couldn't see what the problem was when it was staring her right in the face!

nChristian was the sort of guy Angelo would want for his best friend if things were different but they weren't. The two of them were villains and that wouldn't change until Nolan Hunsacher and his evil conglomerate had been brought to its knees.

nWho knows how long that would take? Their revenge might be a lifelong mission. How could Avery let herself become distracted like this? She had always thought more with her heart than with her head.

nNot Angelo. He used to be more easygoing but he had been more practical than that ridiculous girl whose head was up in the clouds 24

/7.

nHe knew she had taken all of this hard. She was a softy. Revenge didn't suit her the way it had come to suit him. If she got too invested in her boyfriend he was afraid she would give up on the whole thing and everything they worked for—everything their fathers died for—would be for naught.

nShe needed to grow more of a backbone. To accept the broken world as it was instead of thinking it could be better as long as the system was being controlled by the corrupt. Small moments of happiness were nothing in the face of mass oppression. She needed to get those stars out of her eyes and wake up! The world needed her clear-headed!

nAngelo sighed. He wished things weren't like this. That his daydreamer of a best friend had been able to stay young and carefree. That she was allowed to fall in love.

nBut they weren't. Things were what they were and Avery needed to accept that. None of them could ever form real attachments as long as they were involved in this business. They were trying to overthrow the country! There was no room for love in that!

nHe 'liked' the picture solely because he liked everything she posted whether he personally agreed with the sentiment or not and set his phone down to get back to work. He shouldn't have let himself become distracted.

nAngelo was no chemist but he had seen enough of the research on this flash drive to realize that something seriously bad was going on at Hunsacher. Something no one was supposed to know about. Something people had died to keep secret…possibly including his father and Levi.

nHe got a message from one of his chemist contacts and was so startled he swore loudly in Spanish and threw his phone up in the air, barely managing to catch it before it crashed onto the desk and cracked the screen again.

"Are you kidding me?!

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nMind control. The chemistry notes had to do with literal brainwashing done with the right sort of chemicals. They could turn the whole country into their sheep without so much as the ability to resist with this!

nAngelo's heart raced. They had the only copy, didn't they? Something so volatile…so illegal…there was a good reason it had been so well-protected in that room Avery broke into.

nThey had stolen it and smashed the computers but he had no doubt that Nolan Hunsacher was getting whoever had been involved to try and recreate those notes from scratch. The people of this country—if not the world—were in very real danger.

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