Heartless Legacy (Heartless Heirs of Canyon Falls #4)

95. Holden

Chapter 95

Holden

F inn lets himself into my room and stomps over to the fridge. “Everything alright?” I ask, as he helps himself to a drink.

“Hell, no. That challenge was a bust. I spent three hours with those idiots and didn’t find anything.”

I admit, “I’m not sure if we found our item, either. The fourth years think we did, but to me, it felt too easy.”

He snorts. “I wish I had easy. There was just a big ole, nothing.” Coming back into the living room, he asks, “Who’s hanging onto whatever you found?”

“I don’t know. I left while they were celebrating their win.” I walk to my computer room and wake up my computer. When he joins me, I ask, “What do you know about Gregory Lloyd?”

“Nothing much. He’s one of those middle of the road types. Not doing much to be seen or forgotten. Why do you ask?”

“He was on my team and saw something that spooked him. I was just wondering if you’d ever heard anything about his family history.”

Finn pulls up a chair, removes his beanie, and says, “I don’t remember ever talking to him personally, but if I did, it would be on one of my recordings. “

“What recordings?”

“Of the conversations I’ve had or heard over the years. I send everything to my secure server.”

“You do what?” I don’t mean to sound as incredulous as I do, but I can’t help it.

He swirls his fingers around his face. “I am way more than just a pretty face. Everyone likes to use me and my charm to get information, but nobody ever worries that I’m hanging onto the things I hear. They really should, you know. The people I hung out with overseas and on base here taught me a lot more than just jumping rooftops and picking locks. I’ve got tools for dismantling small governments too, and that all starts with information and dissemination.”

I’m looking at my friend like I’ve never seen or talked to him before. Finn is Finn, and still waters and all that, but this is something I’ve never heard from him before. “Finn, are you telling me that these people trained you to be an actual spy?”

“I’ve never been to a formal school, and we don’t use that word on US soil, but theoretically. Yes.” He shoves me over to take up position in front of my computer. “Holden, I love you and all, but I’m gonna need to put in the password and stuff myself.”

I watch as he goes through what looks like several, I’m not a robot screens, and a video game level on a one person shooter game. “Who created this for you?” I ask.

“You did.”

“I did?”

“Yup. In high school. Every time I asked you to find the cheat code for something for me or to add a difficulty level.”

“I thought you were just trying to win the game.”

“I was doing that too, but you liked coding things and always told me you had ideas on how to make games more secure, so I let you do that for my server.”

He finishes the level, and the answers or solutions flicker and expand on the screen, creating a mosaic pattern. “Okay, it’s open.” He says, pushing away from the desk. “Each tile is a file. It’s not really in any order, other than by upload date.”

I tell him I don’t mind going through each one. I start on the most recent files, because Gregory is a second year prospect and we’ve had at least two mandatory social outings in the last few months. “Wait.” Finn says. “Back up two files.” I do and click the play button. The date stamp is the night of the mixer at the social club.

I’ve been too busy working on other projects, so I haven’t followed up on the issue with the cameras that night. The video clip shows Thea starting conversations with people she’d normally have no interest in talking to. Finn points to the screen. “She’s recording them.”

I replay that section of the clip again. Each time Thea engages with a person, she fiddles with her pendant. I zoom in and see the tiniest of red lights flicker on it. Finn groans. “Oh. My. God. I loooove her. If she was here, I’d bend her over this desk and fuck the shit out of her.”

I’m feeling pretty aroused myself. Then next time Finn catches her on camera, she’s slinking around the edges of the room. Then she slips out of the room unnoticed, several minutes before the entertainment arrives. She comes back roughly twenty minutes later, which is way too long for a bathroom break. The last thing Finn catches is someone with an ear piece pulling a council member to the side before they both rush out of the room. It’s both unsettling and exciting to think Thea may have had something to do with what happened at the club.

If it was her, how did she get access to the computers? How did she even know where the server room was? I walked around the social club the first time we were there, because I wanted a copy of the footage they had on us, and I couldn’t find the room.

Finn leans in closer, and says, “Play it again.”

Thea

“Tsk, tsk, tsk,” Finn says, stepping away from the wall as I enter the stairwell I take to get to my next class. “Somebody’s been a very naughty little girl.”

“Is that somebody supposed to be me?” I ask, giving him innocent doe eyes. “Because the last time I was naughty, you were there groaning for more right along with me.”

He flashes me a dazzling smile and says, “It’s not those fun and games I’m referring to.”

“Then you can’t be talking about me. I haven’t done anything remotely interesting lately.”

Finn circles me and purrs, “That’s not true. I’m very interested in knowing what you were doing here.”

He pushes play on his cellphone, bringing up the image of me tapping my pendant, to record what was going on around me. “And here.” He speeds through the footage and captures me again exiting the ballroom.

“I was being bored out of my mind and going to the bathroom.”

“Something weird happened that night.” He says, dragging his nose through my hair.

“Oh?”

“Not even the security council can explain it, but Holden and I think you can.”

“Me?”

“That’s right. You. ”

“I don’t know why you’d think that. Weird shit isn’t exactly my thing, Finn.”

“No, but being sneaky is.” He nibbles my ear, trying to lower my defenses and distract me. “And the thing that happened has your brand of sneakiness all over it.”

“What happened?” My question comes out breathier than I’d like.

“Some computers were tampered with. Files were lost. A whole evening's worth of blackmail material just gone up in smoke when the computers caught fire.”

“And you think I had something to do with it?” I tap his phone screen and put some space between us. “Do I look like I’ve been in a fire?”

“You look very pleased with yourself, Pet. As if you have a juicy secret.” He advances towards me, and I retreat until my back hits the wall. “Even now, there’s a hint of mischief in your eyes. Mischief, and peace.”

“It’s called being free of toxic men named Holden and Finn.”

He chuckles. “Nice try. You’re not free. I’ve just given you a longer leash. So tell me, Thea, in a time when everyone else is stressing about their family’s place in the league, why aren’t you?”

“Why should I be? My status here has been questioned since day one. It’s up to Joshua to prove we descend from the right bloodlines. I think it’s a fifty-fifty chance that he paid his way in. If he gets kicked out, or sidelined again, that’s his problem. Not mine.”

Holden comes to stand on my other side. “If he gets kicked out. You’re not worried about yourself?”

I’ve been thinking about Wolfe’s suggestion. I don’t need their help, but coming clean will be one surefire way to get them to show their true colors.

“No, I’m not worried about myself. I’m operating as an independent, remember? Plus, will it really matter how my family ranks when I win the challenge for that fourth bloodline?”

It’s been a minute since I’ve seen them share one of their hive mind-meld looks, but they’ve dusted it off just for this. I pick my nails as they wordlessly converse. Holden asks, “How do you know about that?”

“I know, because there are a lot of people who don’t understand the secret part of secret society. ”

He says, “You’re not eligible to join that challenge.”

Here we go. “Why not? Because it’s only for second years and up?”

Finn says, “Actually, yes.”

“When have you ever known me to let a stupid little rule like that stop me, Finn?”

Holden says, “The game masters won’t send the tasks to you, so there’s no way to participate.”

“Didn’t you hear the part where I said people talk too much? I don’t need to get the alerts. I just need to know someone who has gotten them before or who’s getting them now, and figure out what the clues mean before anyone else does.”

Finn asks, “Is that why you gave away some of the items you took for the amnesty challenge?” He laughs. “Yes, Pet. I know you played Robin Hood, because there’s no way some of the prospects on the dais had the nerve to rip anyone off.”

“I wanted to help a few of the prospects, because they needed it. But yes, for the others, I’ll use them for information about the history of the league and Canyon Falls.”

Holden tilts his head as he considers my answer. “They wouldn’t have insider knowledge about anything useful. You could’ve kept your points and came to us.”

Poor, sweet, delusional genius. “Holden, why the hell would I come to you about anything?”

Finn sighs. “Because you can trust us, Thea. We’re on your side.”

“Those are just words, Finn. I’ve haven’t seen any evidence of that, and no , fucking and stalking does not mean you respect me as a person or want to help me achieve my goals.”

I jog up the steps to my next class, ignoring his request for me to come back and finish the conversation.