6. Ryan #4
X looks offended. “That’s not a word.”
“It is now.”
Gideon reaches over and takes the wrapper before X can start gesturing with it again. “Could we perhaps postpone whatever this is until after Arthur tells us why he called twelve people into his house before sunrise?”
“Eleven,” Iz says. Arthur looks up. Iz counts quickly. “Fuck. Twelve.”
“Future doctor,” Kaiden says.
“Doctors have calculators.”
Arthur closes the study door, and the room settles.
The boys and the fathers. Nobody asks whether they should be here.
Six months ago, that would’ve been different.
Six months ago, the five of us would’ve been trying to figure out how much we could do before the adults found out.
Now Arthur looks around the room and gets straight to it.
“I received a call at four-oh-three this morning from the federal prosecutor working through the information Ryan gave me Friday.” Arthur opens the folder in front of him.
“The federal team spent most of yesterday cross-referencing the names and locations Alison remembered with material already recovered in the Pennington and Anderson investigations, along with information provided by Daisy and information subsequently obtained through Hartley.”
Arthur continues. “They found enough overlap that we’re no longer looking at Roman O’Toole and Victor Tremblay as two men who happen to know some of the same people we’ve already investigated.”
Kaiden’s expression sharpens. “What are we looking at?”
Arthur folds his hands. “Before I answer that, I want Ryan to walk everyone through exactly what Ally heard Thursday night and what she remembered Friday.”
Every head in the room turns toward me. I pull my phone out and open the notes I made after leaving the bookstore. “Thursday night, Victor came to the O’Tooles’ for dinner.”
Thomas leans forward. “This was the first time he’d been there since the pregnancy?”
“Since Ally knew about it, yeah. Obviously he doesn’t know.” I look down at my phone. “They started talking about travel. Middleburg. New York. Palm Beach. London. Zurich.”
Theodore straightens slightly at the last two. “In what context?”
“That’s the problem. Ally couldn’t always tell. They weren’t having a formal business meeting. They were eating dinner. Victor would mention a city, Roman would answer, then they’d move to something else.”
“Exact language where you have it,” Arthur says.
“I know.” I scroll. “Victor said Hollis was waiting for confirmation from Vane.”
Gideon reaches for one of Arthur’s legal pads. “Hollis and Vane. First names? Companies?”
“Don't know."
“Anything Ally recognized?”
“No.”
He writes both anyway.
“Then Roman asked what happens if Bellamy doesn’t fall in line.”
Arthur looks up. “Those words?”
“According to Ally, yes.”
Callum’s expression changes. “And Tremblay?”
“Said Bellamy would.”
“Why?”
“Didn’t say.” I scroll farther. “Roman told him he’d said the same thing about Mercer.”
Thomas leans forward. “And?”
“Victor said Mercer was different.”
“Different how?”
I look up. “He requires more encouragement.”
Nobody says anything for a second. X is the one who breaks it. “Well, that’s fucking sinister. Did Ally know Mercer? Bellamy? Hollis or Vane?”
“No. They moved into money after that. Roman told Victor not through the foundation.”
Clifford looks at Arthur. “Which foundation?”
“We don’t know.” I continue. “Victor said, ‘The usual.’ Roman said after Pennington he wasn’t having anything trace back there.”
Kaiden’s coffee stops halfway to his mouth. “What?”
“That’s what Ally heard.”
Kaiden lowers the cup. “Pennington.”
I keep going. “Victor said Pennington was careless.”
Kaiden’s face goes blank. Not confused. Not surprised. That cold fucking Kaiden expression that usually means someone should start running. “And Roman?”
“Agreed.”
“That’s it?”
“No.” I look toward Xander. “Then Lucian came up.”
X doesn’t move. “What’d they say?”
“Roman said Lucian was careless too.”
X laughs once without humor. “That’s cute.”
“Victor called him arrogant.”
“Also accurate.” Gideon’s hand settles against X’s shoulder. X doesn’t shrug him off.
I look at Danny next. “And Hartley.” Theodore’s eyes close briefly. Danny’s fingers tighten around his coffee.
“What about her?” he asks.
“Victor called her stupid.”
Danny’s mouth moves slightly. “Also accurate.”
Nobody laughs. Arthur watches him for a second before looking back at me. “What did Roman say?”
“That’s when the conversation changed.” I glance at my notes even though I don’t need them for this part. This part has been stuck in my fucking head since Ally told me. “Roman said there were a lot of people around Edgewood suddenly making mistakes.”
Callum sits forward. “What did he mean?”
“Them.” I gesture toward the papers on Arthur’s desk. “Pennington. Lucian. Hartley. The families we’ve been dealing with all year.”
Kaiden’s eyes narrow. “And then?”
I look at the four assholes sitting around me. “Then they talked about us.”
X sits forward. “Us?”
“The five of us.”
Iz’s coffee lowers. Danny is completely awake now.
Kaiden stares at me. “What exactly did Roman say?”
“He noticed the pattern. That every time one of these families goes down, we’re fucking standing there.
” Nobody says anything. I look at Kaiden.
“Pennington.” Then X. “Lucian.” Then Danny.
“Hartley.” Danny’s expression doesn’t change, but Clifford’s hand returns to his shoulder.
“Roman told Victor the same five boys keep showing up around families when things fall apart.”
Iz slowly sets his coffee on the table. “Well.”
X looks around. “That’s not ideal.”
Kaiden’s voice is quiet. “Did Tremblay already know who we were?”
“Enough to understand what Roman was talking about.”
Dad leans forward. “Did Roman identify any of you individually?”
I look at him. “Me.”
His expression goes still. “Why?”
“You. He mentioned your connections.”
Arthur looks toward Dad. “What else?”
“That I’m smart.” X snorts. I give him the finger. “That I’m curious. And that I have a habit of digging into shit that doesn’t concern me.”
Kaiden looks at me. “That’s annoyingly accurate.”
“Eat shit.”
“Did Roman say why he was concerned about you specifically?” Arthur asks.
“Because of Dad, because I’ve been around all of this, and because apparently Roman has eyes.” My stomach tightens.
Dad’s face hardens. “In relation to Ally?”
“Yeah.”
“What did she say?” Callum asks.
I can’t help the tiny smile. “That I’m an asshole. That she doesn’t spend time with me.” I stop smiling. “That I barely acknowledge her.”
Dad goes still beside me. Thomas exhales slowly. Arthur’s expression changes too. Because everybody in this room understands what that means. Our cover is working. It also means Roman has been watching closely enough to know how I behave around his daughter at school.
Dad looks at me. “How did Ally describe his tone?”
“Suspicious. Not of us.”
“Of you.”
“Yeah. If Roman thought I’d touched her, we wouldn’t be sitting here wondering whether he knows.
” Especially if Roman knew exactly how much I’d touched her.
Or what was growing inside her because of it.
“Ally handled it,” I say. “She made me sound like exactly what Roman already thinks I am. Rich asshole. One of the five. Not interested in her.”
Thomas’s expression softens for half a second. “Smart girl.”
Arthur looks at the other boys. “Which means nothing changes at school.”
Xander leans back. “Then we give him what he expects.” Arthur looks at him. X shrugs. “Five rich teenage assholes who don’t give a fuck about Ally O’Toole.” My jaw tightens even though I know he’s right. X notices. “So, you know. Us.”
“Fuck you.”
“There he is.”
Arthur lifts a hand before this becomes something else. “Continue.” I scroll.
“The dinner conversation moved away from us eventually. Then Victor started talking about Ally.”
Dad’s expression darkens immediately. “What did he say?”
“He talked about her being his wife. About Roman doing a good job raising her. He touched her. Nothing anybody at that table could call assault. Hand at her neck. Waist. Shoulder. The kind of shit he can do while smiling because everybody else is supposed to think it’s affectionate.”
Callum looks disgusted. “Did Jane react?”
“After dinner Jane warned Ally not to be alone with him if she could avoid it.”
Arthur’s pen stops. “Those words?”
“Yup,then Tremblay changed his plans.” I look at the time on my phone. 6:19. “He was supposed to leave yesterday. Instead, during that dinner, he decided he wanted to take Ally to lunch today.”
“Why?” Theodore asks.
“Nobody fucking knows.”
Arthur watches me. “And Ally doesn’t know why Tremblay wants her alone.”
“No.”
Arthur gestures toward my phone. “Friday. That’s when Ally remembered Ashford?”
Theodore looks up. “Ashford wasn’t at the dinner?”
“No. That came afterward.” I scroll to the next section. “She was going back through the conversation, trying to remember anything else, and Ashford came up. London was around the same memory. Roman said something needed to stay separate.”
Arthur taps his pen. “Separate from what?”
“She doesn’t know.”
“And Ashford?”
“Connected somehow. The other part she remembered was Roman saying not to use the same account.”
Theodore’s attention sharpens. “Same account as what?”
“Again, she doesn’t know.”
Arthur nods. “This is where you started asking about older memories.”
“Yeah.” I lock my phone because I don’t need it anymore. “Because she kept apologizing.”
Dad frowns. “For what?”
“Not knowing enough. She thought because she couldn’t tell me what Hollis does or what account Roman meant, none of it was useful. So I asked whether she’d heard any of the names before.”
“And?”
“At first, nothing.” I lean forward, forearms on my knees. “Then I stopped asking about Thursday.” Arthur doesn’t interrupt. “I asked her about Roman. Victor. Growing up. Summers at the lake. Dinners. Trips. Phone calls. Things she’d heard when she was a kid.”
Danny looks at me. “And that’s when it started. What came first?”
“Vaughn.”