Chapter 19
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It wasn’t supposed to go like this. Why didn’t I listen to my gut and leave before we put ourselves in this position?
“Cat got your tongue?” Phineas slaps my shoulder, and I step away from him, daring to look at Cassie. Her face is pale, and her eyes are wide. She looks like she might throw up, and the betrayal written all over her face is like a knife to the heart.
“You can’t take him. We’re calling the police.” Cassie steps in between Nathan and Phineas. Of course, she does. That’s the sort of thing Cassie would do without thinking about the consequences or what comes next.
“Really? You’re going to stop him? Lucky for you, I don’t need him, I just need something he has.” Phineas shrugs and looks at me. “Lincoln, take her outside.”
Her eyes jump to me, and my heart twists in my chest. Why does it feel like I’m flipping on everything I believe in ?
I step toward her, and she backs up. At least she’s gotten out of Phineas’s way. Reformed or not, I don’t trust him around her.
“Don’t you dare touch me,” she snaps, her eyes darting to my outstretched hand. My hand falls in defeat at my side.
“Let’s go outside, and I’ll explain everything.” Please come with me. I don't want to see what happens if she makes a scene and Phineas decides to make us comply with what he wants.
“I’m not going anywhere with you. How could you do this to me? To Quinn? I mean, you’re literally working for him!”
Phineas watches on with a bored expression until he hears the sound of cars outside. Phineas goes over to the window, momentarily forgetting about me and Cassie. I step closer to Cassie. I never wanted her wrapped up in this. Now I’ve got her right in the lion’s den.
“Cassie, we don’t want to be here for whatever is about to happen. We need to leave, now.” I eye the back of the building. We can leave the same way she came in. Phineas is mixed up in a whole lot more than he’s let on, and I don't want Cassie in the middle of it. I did what I promised. This is Phineas’s mess now, and as much of a monster as he is, I’m hoping he’ll honor his deal because I have plenty of a mess to clean up myself.
“What is about to happen, Lincoln? Is he going to kill Nathan? What happened to everything that we do and are supposed to stand for? Would my dad have approved of something like this? How long have you been working for Phineas?”
I can’t stand the thought of what she must think of me .
“It’s not like that…” I can’t explain everything to her here, not like this. I need time, and we need a safe place to do it. Something isn’t right because Phineas is looking nervous.
“What’s going on?” I glance toward the front door just as it bursts open.
So much for leaving before everything hits the fan.
The man Phineas was meeting with before stands in the doorway. He’s dressed in a black suit and sunglasses, just like before. He also dresses in a rich mobster type of way, just without the strange eccentricities Phineas uses. Apparently, I’m crazy because I think I prefer the Phineas style.
He crosses the room, stopping in front of Phineas. His eyes darken when he spots Nathan and sweep over Cassie and me as if we aren’t even there.
“Phineas. You want to explain to me why you have my nephew restrained?” His tone is dark, in control, the commanding type that gets things done no matter who you're speaking to.
Phineas looks calm on the outside, but I know him well enough to see he’s panicking on the inside. Great. Now, I am admitting I know him pretty well.
“Who are you?” I interject, trying to give Phineas a bit more time to come up with a good answer.
Do I care about Phineas getting himself in trouble? No, absolutely not. Whatever trouble he’s in, he deserves it. However, in this current situation, Cassie and I are an extension of him—a major problem that means Phineas needs to come up with a darn good reason for us being here.
The man turns his attention to me.
“Not that it is any business of yours, but my name is Preston Thornton. If you’re working for Phineas, as I suspect you are, I'm surprised he hasn’t told you that.”
Cassie sucks in a sharp breath, and my heart picks up speed. I suppose defining our true relationship will have to wait until we’re all safe and sound back at home.
Preston turns his attention back to Phineas.“So, you were about to tell me why you and your associates are here?”
Cassie
Adrenaline and caution pump through me in equal amounts.
There's too much going on to sort out everything rushing through my head. I don't know what to think of Lincoln. I’m furious at him. He’s lost all of my trust. I mean, who even is he?
The type of person I thought he was wouldn’t willingly be in the same building as Phineas, much less do his bidding. The way he was handing Nathan over to him… Fresh anger washes through me.
Maybe there’s more to it than I see, but this is going to take a lot of explaining.
My attention jumps to Preston. My eyes sweep over him for the third time. There's something about him that is just so familiar. It’s that feeling when you know the term for something, but the word sits at the tip of your tongue and refuses to come forth.
It's not just seeing him with Phineas and Lincoln before—it's something more than that. And then it clicks. I've seen him before—not in Pinecrest, but back in New York.
I’m whisked back to New York while still on the show. I was supposed to be done for the day, resting in my trailer. It was around two weeks before I was essentially blacklisted.
Where did I leave my purse? I could have been sure it was back here… I rush around the corner into the green room. It’s mostly empty, save for one lone man grazing the snack table.
He looks up, a startled deer-in-the-headlights expression taking over his features when he spots me.
“Hey,” I say without explaining more. I keep looking for my purse. I’ve been on my feet for two days straight, and breaks don’t come often.
“Hey.” He looks me up and down, cautiously almost. He lifts a morsel of food to his lips.
“Do I know you?” I am pretty good with faces, and I don’t remember him, though he looks familiar.
“No, I’m not a regular.” There’s something about how he’s fidgeting and his eyes are jumping about, as if worried someone will walk in and find him stealing snacks.
“Oh?” I cross my arms over my chest, then squint a bit. “You look like someone I know… that’s right, Mr. Thornton. Do you know him?”
“Corey?” The man’s eyebrows shoot up, and if I’m not mistaken, his cheeks turn rosy red. “He’s my uncle.”
“Really? That’s wonderful.” It’s not often I see someone from Pinecrest around here, and while I don’t know Preston at all, it still feels like a connection.
“I should go,” he says abruptly.
Maybe I said something offensive. Is there a way to smooth it over?
“I am really grateful for Mr. Thornton giving me this opportunity. You’re from our hometown, aren’t you? My dad talks about your family all the time.”
If he didn’t look nervous before, he’s practically doing a jig with how eager he looks to escape me now. Maybe he’s not a people person.
“I really do have to go. It was nice meeting you…”
“Cassie. Cassie Love.” I would have offered to shake his hand, but he’s already halfway out the door. I frown, not sure what I did to upset him.
My gaze falls to my purple purse, poking out from one of the chairs in the corner. There it is. Snatching it up, I run out of the green room.
I thought perhaps he was having a bad day. He's only about five or ten years older than Lincoln. Salt and pepper black hair combed back slick, an air of authority like a cloud around his shoulders.
And I'm not sure if he remembers me because he doesn't look my way, and instead, all of his attention is focused on Phineas. I step closer to Lincoln. We're going to have to settle our personal differences later. There’s something that isn’t right about Preston being here.
Anita's warnings about the Ponzi scheme fill my head. If Preston and Corey were in it together… There are still a few things that don’t quite make sense, but my whole body is filled with a fight-or-flight response, and it’s mostly screaming for me to run.
Anita was right. The Thorntons are mixed up in illegal activities. Meredith’s strange behavior demanding that we find Anita… Corey refusing to take my calls or acknowledge I ever existed on the show he helped fund, now Preston, here with Phineas, of all people? It’s not looking good. How involved is the whole Thornton family? Is it everyone, or just a couple ?
"We need to leave," I whisper to Lincoln. We can figure out the details later. Right now, my body tingles with fear of something terrible looming on the horizon.
He raises his eyebrows with an annoyed expression as if to say, You're just now figuring that out?
Okay, I should have listened to him earlier when he wanted to leave. It was just my stubbornness and anger and the shock of finding out he was working for a man we all considered our sworn enemy.
There’s got to be a reason. Deep down, I believe that. The Lincoln I know and love would have a backup plan. A crazy, irrational plan that has like zero-point two percent chances of working, but still, a plan that made sense to him.
I take a step toward the back door, and Lincoln follows. We carefully watch Preston and Phineas, who are speaking in low tones. Phineas doesn’t seem like his confident, condescending self. Instead, he’s fidgeting with the fabric of his pants. His knuckles glare white against his cane, and a thin line of sweat sits on his brow.
What has him so upset? That can’t be good.
When Lincoln steps again, they both turn toward us.
"Where do the two of you think you're going?" Preston asks, his ice-cold voice washing over me, chilling me to the bone. He doesn't seem like a man you want to cross.
"We figured this would be a matter for you to solve this with Phineas," Lincoln speaks up, sounding a lot more confident than I feel. I never imagined there was so much going on around finding Nathan.
Maybe if Lincoln had been more honest, I would have been prepared. I shoot him another glare.He grimaces as if to say, ‘I’m sorry.’ It’s a little late now.
"No one is going anywhere, not until we get everything sorted out," Preston says. His eyes narrow in on me for half a second longer, making me wonder if he’s starting to remember me too.
He lifts his hand, and two men come in through the front door and two more through the back. Looks like we wouldn't have been able to get through the back door anyway. I don’t know what Preston is involved with, but it must be bad.
"Get them some chairs and put them over here by Nathan," Preston says. He motions with his chin toward Nathan, who looks paler by the second.
The men don't hesitate, and as much as I want to do something, I walk over and sit down in the chair indicated to me without a fuss. Fighting back right now doesn't seem like the right move. We are way outnumbered. So far, they haven’t tried to kill us, so that’s something. I try to search my brain for more information on Preston and Phineas. There has to be something that makes this make a little more sense.
What if no one was supposed to know Preston was in New York the day I saw him? A new wave of nausea washes through me. What if the whole end of my career is wrapped up in whatever is going on with the Thornton family? I never connected how much time had passed between my speaking with Preston and my being fired and blacklisted.
I pull my attention back to the situation at hand. Maybe we can figure out who was involved with what after we’re out of here.
We're not restrained, but we are all sitting in a row, and there's no real distinction between us and Nathan at this point, which worries me. Are we also being considered a nuisance? I mean, I had nothing to do with this whole sordid mess.If I had it my way, I’d walk right out of this place and spare them the inconvenience.
"As you were saying," Preston turns his attention back to Phineas, who shoots Lincoln a look. Lincoln tenses and his eyes widen. Are the two of them communicating with each other? I stare at both of them, trying to figure out what’s happening.
Of all the people that Lincoln could get that comfortable with…
Phineas regains some composure. Did Lincoln actually give Phineas an encouraging nod? I must be dreaming. Phineas dabs at the sweat on his brow with a folded handkerchief and turns his back to us, staring Preston down. I strain to hear their conversation.
"I suspected Nathan has been stealing from both of us for quite some time. As soon as I was sure, I hired Lincoln to help me track him down, and we've been trying to find his whereabouts to put an end to the thievery as quickly as possible." Phineas’s words fall a bit flat at the end, but even so, Preston seems to be turning them over in his head.
He turns toward the two of us. "My sister hired you two to find a certain reporter called Anita. Did you ever find her?"
My heart sinks. So, he does have an idea of who we are and the whole Anita debacle. Does he think we’re conspiring against him by keeping her away from Meredith?
I exchange glances with Lincoln. Is it a bad thing to lie outright in a situation like this? I suppose not .
"We haven't seen any sign of her, though I'm not sure why a family like yours would want to find her." Lincoln’s statement sounds innocent enough, though I know he’s digging for information.
That's the Lincoln I know—resourceful and grappling to stay one step ahead. Not the type of man who would ambush someone and hand him over to people who might possibly end his life.
My heart races against my ribcage. Is this how my life ends: here in a warehouse surrounded by people I don’t know? I groan internally. I hoped for a much better ending.
On my TV show, I’d spent plenty of time tied up in a chair or facing down mobsters, but it was all fake. I knew that behind the cameras were dozens of people watching and participating, and the fake FBI would be ready to rush in and save the day.
Here, it feels real, terrifying, and lonely. There is no backup. Only betrayal.
I imagined there was more to the situation with Phineas than Lincoln admitted to, but I never could have guessed he was working for the man. It contradicts everything I know about Lincoln. Their values are completely different.
Phinehas’s morals are almost non-existent. I don't understand how they could collaborate in any capacity. I have a million questions for Lincoln, but we have bigger problems to wiggle out of first.