Lethal Theory (The Salinger Legacy #2)

Prologue

The loud country music blared from ancient speakers as I walked into The Reverse Cowgirl.

The name promised a wilder time than the sticky floor and broken neon signs could deliver.

The stench of stale beer and a lightbox sign for a brewery that had been broken for quite some time gave the pub a quiet sense of peace.

With Holden turning twenty-one a few days earlier, all four of us were finally old enough to enter.

Legally, at least. Holden, Shiloh, Maggie and myself.

We were all about to enter our final year of college and we wanted a night out together.

Well, all except Shiloh. She just finished her associates degree and she’ll be starting at the California Police Academy soon.

Still, it was good being just the four of us.

Even all these years later, I was incredibly grateful for that one Halloween where my baby sister made lifelong friends with one of the Salinger kids, ensuring me and all my siblings would forever be surrounded by people who care about us.

In a few days, we’d celebrate the end of summer with the rest of our friends but it was the first time the four us could all legally drink and we wanted to take advantage.

Fuck knows, I needed a lot more than just one drink.

I had just buried my father and his wife earlier in the day.

I wanted to take the time to reflect on what that meant.

Surely, I needed to feel something after the death of a man who donated his sperm to my existence.

Fuck. That’s exactly what he was. A sperm donor to me and…

my siblings. Tiffany, Zoe, and Connor. And as we recently discovered, to Caterina Bauman. Foster sister to Maggie and Shiloh.

I shrugged out of my black suit jacket and rested it on the bar top.

Smiling, I watched Maggie laugh at something Shiloh said.

Her olive skin turned the prettiest shade of pink, the kind of thing men wrote poetry about.

But that shy smile, the one she tried to hide, that stole the air from my lungs.

It lit up my world. I was a small brilliant thing, like a candle lighting my world.

She lowered her eyes and picked up the clear drink in front of her.

All signs that Shiloh had made a dirty joke.

Maggie wasn’t exactly a prude, but she was the most bashful of all our friends.

That included the two girls who were still in high school.

Holden walked up to the bar. He’d already discarded his jacket and tie and undone the top two buttons of his black dress shirt. My friends didn’t attend my father’s funeral because he was a beloved member of our community. Instead, they were there for Tiffany and I. And even my younger siblings.

“What are the plans going forward?” Holden turned to me once he’d attracted the attention of the barman. “You don’t need to do what the will says, you know.”

I was well aware of what my options were “Tiff will be eighteen in a few weeks, she wants me to finish college. She also wants nothing to do with my dad’s money, so she will defer for a few years until she has saved up enough to put herself through school.”

My father had been killed under suspicious circumstances.

It took a few weeks for the authorities to release the body since they’d suspected murder.

With a single car crash, everything around us was destroyed.

We’d all suspected that my father’s business dealings were less than legal, we just didn’t know how deep his evil went.

The most devastating part for us was finding out he was Caterina’s father.

She was born into a trafficking ring. The events surrounding the rescue of her and the girls who became her foster sisters, were almost folklore in our town.

Shiloh and Maggie were both part of that rescue.

The one good thing was that it put us all on a path that led to me being part of her circle of friends.

She was in our lives, thankfully. But how were we meant to face her?

Maggie frowned. There was a tightness to her expression I didn’t understand. “She’s not going to college? Or design school?”

“Nope.” I looked at my three friends. They got me through the last few years. Friends since my senior year in high school, they were an excellent support. “Said she’d find a job and go to design school later.”

And then she smiled again, it really was the prettiest thing. Once again, I wrestled with the idea of telling her how I felt. She was dating that douche, Fred Ripper, but she had been toying with the idea of breaking up with him. Maybe she needed an incentive.

Shiloh rested her forearms on the bar. “What about you? You gonna do it?”

“What? Play at being king of my father’s castle? No.” I didn’t look at her.

Maggie took a sip of her drink. Usually, she had something fruity. But it looked like sparkling water. “So, you’re not joining Snow Enterprises?”

According to his will, I was to take over at the helm of Snow Enterprises, the largest weapons manufacture and distribution company in the Northern Hemisphere. “Let the board of directors sort it out. I want nothing to do with their secret projects and government contracts.”

“So, what’s the plan?” Holden lifted a brow and took another sip of his fruity drink.

I was free to do exactly what I wanted without hanging my siblings' well-being over my head. I could fulfill my own dreams. “I will graduate. Because that makes the most sense. But then I plan on joining Shiloh.”

Shiloh had been accepted to the California Police Academy. Single motherhood had changed the course of her plans. Not that she complained. She was a good mom, and she still managed to find her way into law enforcement.

Holden had been notoriously quiet, which was not like him. “Cat got your tongue, dude?”

He shook his head, never cracking a smile. “My dad and I are arguing over my future in the Navy.”

The man was about to start his final year at Annapolis. His dad had been proud when Holden got his letter of acceptance, and was his biggest champion. I could not imagine what his dad was unhappy about.

Maggie turned to him. Her soft voice was a comfort to us all. “What’s going on?”

“I want to enter BUD/S training and he’s not happy about it.” All three of us stared at him and he must’ve realized we had no idea what he was talking about. “SEAL training. I want to be a SEAL.”

Aah. I could see how that would cause some trouble in the Waite household. His mother was a Navy Nurse attached to a SEAL team at the time she was killed. Still, I had no doubt they would figure it out. They always did.

“What about you?” I turned to Maggie. She was almost done with her bachelor’s degree and would likely move straight onto her masters. Even if it was only part time. “Decided on a major?”

“I don’t know yet?” Those pretty brown eyes looked away. She stared down as if that dark red paint on her toes was the most fascinating thing she’d ever seen.

Shiloh turned to her. “You don’t know? You had a plan. Whatever happened to MBA by twenty-five?”

“Sometimes plans change.”

She was right. My plan after graduation was to work for my father to ensure my siblings were taken care of. Now, I had options. But Maggie’s plan had included all her options. She wanted an empire, and the next step was her MBA.

“Maybe.” I reached out, my finger hesitating slightly before I gently lifted her chin. Her skin was so soft, I had to resist the instinct to run my thumb over her jaw. I tilted her head up, forcing her gaze to meet mine. “But then what is the change of plan? Surely, you have a new plan?”

Maggie wasn’t usually a planner. For almost every aspect of her life she went with the flow. Except her education. She believed that the only way to get where she wanted to be was to follow a certain set of steps. And here she was abandoning that.

“I don’t have a new plan.” Again her eyes dropped, as if her flip-flops were more interesting than the conversation we were having. “Not everyone is like you and Shi who have all of their lives planned out from the beginning. Holden changed his mind, and no one gave him a hard time.”

Holden whipped his head to her. “Not the same thing. I have a new plan. No one likes my plan, that doesn’t mean I don’t have one.”

“What’s going on, Mags?” Shiloh pushed me out of the way.

Her shoulders sagged and her eyes closed. Was she blinking away tears? Did that asshole boyfriend of hers hurt her? We all suspected he cheated on her but none of us had proof.

I leaned against the bar, standing alongside her. “Did Fred do something?”

“I suppose, you could say that.” She folded her arms around herself. Something she did when she was scared or nervous. “I’m pregnant.”

The world around me froze. The music blaring moments ago was suddenly muffled.

I wasn’t sure I heard correctly, but judging by the glances being exchanged by my other friends, it would seem my ears were functioning as designed.

Well, except for the static whooshing through them as I processed what she said.

Shiloh gave her a skeptical look. “Sorry. What?”

She forced a smile and blinked a few times. “I’m pregnant.”

It was at that point I knew I needed to get over the crush I had on her. She was going to start a family. I would support her every step of the way. Besides, just like with Shiloh’s son, I got to be the doting uncle once again.

Shiloh wasn’t even going to pretend to be enthusiastic.

“What do you mean you’re pregnant? Are you sure?” Shiloh frowned at her sister.

Maggie rolled her lip and tilted her head. “I took four tests. In seven to eight months you’re going to be an aunt.”

“Maggie.” Again from Shiloh “Are you happy?”

Maggie narrowed her eyes. “Yes. Sure, it's sooner than we would have wanted. But we were headed in this direction, right?”

“Maggie, you wanted to break up with him a few days ago.” Shiloh was doing a really bad job of being supportive. She stepped back, realizing her sister needed space.

All of us stood there for a while before I spoke. “What do you need from us?”

“Nothing.” She sighed. “Actually, that is not true. I need you all to at least try and make peace with the Rippers. They’re about to be my family. Fred’s asked me to marry him”

Holden spoke what we were all thinking. “You and that little baby will always have all my love and support. But asking us to make peace with a family full of criminals is asking a lot.”

“There is no proof that they are criminals.”

“Mags.” I was tempted to pull her close. But that wasn’t a good idea. Instead, I allowed some of my frustration to seep out. “Shiloh’s going to be a cop. I’m headed that way too, and Holden is going to be an officer in the Navy. I think separating ourselves from your future in-laws is necessary.”

Was I being harsh? Probably. But I was being fair. She wanted our support. And she would always have that. But there was no way any of us would be okay with her future husband.

She pushed away from the bar. “Has it ever occurred to you that maybe you all have such a negative opinion of their family because his brother cheated on Cat in high school?”

Shiloh moved her head from side to side. “No. My negative opinion of the man has to do with how often he happens to be associated with known criminals. Only so much of it can be attributed to coincidence, Mags. I may not be a cop yet, but the guy sets my teeth on edge.”

“You guys don’t understand.” She grabbed her purse from the bar and stomped away, flip-flops flapping as she walked away.

Holden stared after her. Then he looked between Shiloh and I. “I guess I’ll go after her, seeing as I am the least likely to piss her off.”

He had a point. When Shiloh fell pregnant and refused to disclose who the father was, Maggie stood by her every step of the way.

Not that Shiloh wouldn’t stand by her, but she wouldn’t be nice to Fred Ripper either.

As for me? I sometimes let my feelings for her get in the way of being what she needed.

The regret flowed through my veins like oil. No matter what I did, something I would never get over is not telling her how I felt.

Shiloh leaned on the bar next to me. “So, how are you really doing?”

“What do you mean?” Surely, she couldn’t tell how much Maggie’s pregnancy got to me. I had been pretty good about hiding how I felt.

She lifted her gaze to mine. “Your dad just died, Theo. I know he wasn’t the best father, but it’s still okay to be sad.”

“I don’t miss him.” Quite the opposite. When they pronounced him dead at the hospital, my body was instantly lighter. A huge weight had been lifted off my shoulders. “But I am sad that he won’t get to see me defying him.”

Movement to my right had me looking up. Nick Salinger was coming toward us. He wasn’t alone. Another man was with him. Probably around my age. Nick was the owner of Salinger Security. Nearly twenty years older than me, former Delta Force, and one of my heroes.

They stopped in front of us and Nick looked directly over at Shiloh. “Sweetheart, do you mind if I talk to Theo alone?”

“Sure.” She picked up her shoes. “I need to check on Maggie anyway.”

Only once she was out of sight and hearing distance did Nick look over at me. He gestured to the man next him. “This is Hunter Spence. Former Delta Force operator. And about to be the Head of Security at Snow Enterprises.”

I frowned at them. “Why are you telling me this?”

“I think you need to take over from your father.”

Everything in me rebelled against Nick’s statement, but I had to admit I was curious. “Why?”

Nick smiled and grabbed my shoulder. “Your father made one hell of a mess, but you have the opportunity to make it better.”