Ready to Rule: The Real Heiress Strikes Back novel Chapter 269

Connor felt a little better after hearing that. He nodded. “You made the right call. No one can know you’re L.”

Lydia nodded. “Yeah, I know.”

Connor couldn’t help staring at her, taking in her delicate features. She looked so gentle and sweet that he wanted nothing more than to pull her close and kiss her, but he held back, worried he’d scare her off.

“How did you get so incredible?” he asked. “Three years ago, you were only fifteen, and you still went all alone into that base in Southeast Asia. Is there anything in this world that actually scares you?”

He still couldn’t quite wrap his head around it. The girl in front of him was the legendary hacker everyone in the underworld talked about, and at fifteen, she’d already done something huge for her country.

Lydia’s lips curved into a playful smile. She blinked. “It was dangerous, for sure. But I just wanted to test myself.”

She thought back to that place. It had been so dark, filled with kids, girls, boys, people who would probably never get out. Some of them would be trapped there for the rest of their lives.

“Lydia.” Connor’s voice was soft and gentle.

“Yeah?”

“Don’t ever go to places like that again. Promise me.”

He couldn’t stand the thought of her being in danger like that, not ever again.

Lydia didn’t exactly agree. She just said, “Relax, I know how to take care of myself.”

Connor let out a helpless sigh. He reached out, brushing his fingers lightly through her hair. “If you really have to go somewhere like that, then you’re taking me with you, got it?”

Up front, Aiden was starting to feel numb. His boss was getting so good at making girls happy. If he wasn’t busy driving, he’d record this whole conversation and play it for Grandpa Samuel at home.

The First Division headquarters wasn’t far from Riverside Villas, so they got there fast. Connor still had a ton he wanted to say, but Lydia needed to get home for dinner with her family.

“It’s getting late. You should head back.”

Lydia gave him a bright smile and waved goodbye, but Connor couldn’t help himself. He pulled her into his arms before she could leave.

Lydia’s eyes went wide. “Wait… you were Commander One?”

Connor lifted his brow. “Surprised?”

A big smile broke out on Lydia’s face, her eyes sparkling bright and clear. She looked so genuinely happy.

“Of course I’m surprised!”

Three years ago, the country had sent a special team on a secret mission to rescue people who’d been trafficked. The team leader was called 001. Everyone referred to him as Commander One. It had been a dangerous job, so Commander One had gone in first, undercover, to check out the situation. Lydia had been his point of contact.

They never met face-to-face. They left coded marks in certain places, slipped notes to each other, whatever worked. Lydia was the one who’d given him the base map.

Later, when the time was right, the fighting broke out. To save the three hundred people locked in the dungeon, Commander One had stayed behind to cover everyone’s escape, missing his own chance to get out. There was a huge explosion in the dungeon and he got badly hurt. Everyone worked together to dig him out of the rubble.

When Lydia finally got there, all she saw was a man covered in blood from head to toe. She never would have guessed that man was Connor.