Chapter 22 #2
This sweet, thoughtful man who barely knew me was willing to replace my laptop himself so I could keep the job I loved. So I didn’t have to ask my boss if there was a chance they could replace it.
I certainly couldn’t have afforded it on my own. And, most likely, their answer would’ve been no. The nonprofit was always running on fumes and prayers.
I never expected him to help me—almost didn’t want to accept it when he did—but he made it so special.
Made me feel like I deserved it, for the work I was doing.
He came to pick me up for a date one night with a brand-new laptop in a bag and offered to take the old one to see if it could be repaired.
I don’t even remember what happened with that, if he ever tried to fix it. Until this moment, I’d almost forgotten about it.
“What does that have to do with anything?”
Preston sighs, looking bored. “There was a copy made before Simon brought it to us.”
“Brought it to…” My voice falters. “You…you corrupted it.” The realization feels like shards of glass piercing my skin. “Simon helped you.”
“We needed access,” Preston says. “Simon found you because we asked him to. Because we needed something you had. Something important.”
“Are you just going to keep talking like a movie villain, or would you like to explain what it was? Because I have no idea what you’re talking about.” I’m shaking, trembling under the weight of this pain. Simon lied to me. He tricked me. They’ve all lied to me.
Pierce gestures toward the shelves behind me. “We took care of most of the evidence already, from your computer and others.”
Most.
Not all.
“The last piece,” Preston says, “is somewhere else. There was a copy of a file made from your computer. We need to know what happened to it.”
“What are you talking about? What copy? I used my computer for work. Social media sometimes. That’s it.”
“It was your work we were interested in,” Pierce says.
The lines on his face deepen. He shoves his hands into his pockets.
“Astrid, you understand, of course, the difference…” He weighs his words carefully.
“In certain upbringings versus the one we’ve been able to give our children.
The one…people like us…are able to give our children. ”
I’ve never been more confused.
“But the system…well, you’ve seen it from the outside, and all the negatives that come along with it. They’re hell-bent on giving kids back to the people who birthed them—I won’t bother calling them parents—when that’s the last thing that should happen.”
“What are you talking about right now? What does any of this have to do with anything?” I feel like I’m going to be sick.
“Because…” Pierce drags out the word, like he’s already tired of explaining this to me. “We tried to help. To save children. To make a difference. Until someone caught on that the system was being…guided.”
Manipulated. “I… It wasn’t… You think… Me? You think I did that?”
“No.” Pierce says it so quickly, so dismissively, I’m offended. “Someone you used to work with. Multiple someones maybe. They started asking questions, and word got back to us.”
I reach for the chair behind me, sinking down. “I… Okay. Okay.” I force out a breath, trying to steady my racing heart. It’s beating so savagely I feel dizzy. “You were…what…stopping foster kids from going back to their homes?”
“To their abusers,” he says, matter-of-factly.
“Their neglecters. The people who birthed them but could never give them a stable home, warm meals, a decent education. The people who couldn’t care for them like they should’ve been cared for.
We stepped in, put in a good word for others we knew. People who could take care of them.”
“What does any of this have to do with me?”
“You were simply our way in, Astrid. And now, we need the last piece of evidence that could ever lead back to us.”
Suddenly, it clicks for me. Maybe way too late. The metal boxes…they’re not recording devices. They’re hard drives. “If you have my hard drive, you have everything. Whatever you think I had, it’s there.”
“A copy was made of the entire file. Everything you had. We can see that from the data on your hard drive. Someone has a copy of everything. We need to know who that would be and what happened to it,” Preston tells me.
I shake my head, my body going numb. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.
I don’t even know how to do that. We were all running on the same server at work.
Does that matter? And…I mean, we used each other’s devices whenever we needed to.
It was a skeleton crew working with limited resources.
I can’t even…begin to tell you…” I puff out a breath.
“So many people had access to my laptop. It could’ve been anyone who copied it. ”
The men exchange looks.
“Why are you doing this now? What does any of this have to do with Lia?”
They don’t answer, but there’s clearly a silent conversation going on between them.
All at once, it starts to come together for me. The fog clears. “You needed me to look unstable. So that if I accused you of something, no one would believe me.”
“Well, that didn’t hurt,” Preston says.
At the same time, Pierce says, “We needed to know if we could trust you. Or if you’d assume the worst in us and go against our wishes. Endanger us all.”
“There was never a girl,” I say numbly, looking away. “Not a stalker. Or the press.”
“No,” Preston says quickly. “Just us and a radio and a family who very badly needs something returned to them.”
“We told Ruby what to say, but she never knew what was going on,” Pierce says, almost like he’s trying to reassure me.
“We recorded it ahead of time. Certain words. Phrases. She thought it was all a game. We could use the computer to manipulate it and make her sound older, sadder, whatever. It let us fix the letter sounds that would’ve given her away. ”
I stand finally, bracing for impact. “And…Simon? Does he know? Was he part of this? Any of it? All of it?”
Pierce’s mouth twitches. “Simon knew in the beginning, with the computer. None of us ever expected things to get…serious between the two of you. We did try to let it go, Astrid. Believe me, we did. For him. But now he’s made it clear you’re trying to have a child, and well, that changes things.
We can’t have people in our family we don’t trust.”
“And now you don’t trust me?” My brows draw together so hard it gives me a headache. “Because I tried to save a little girl I thought was in danger?”
“Because you went against our wishes. You know how it goes—family first before everything else,” Pierce says firmly.
“When you married into this family, that’s what you agreed to, and I vouched for you because of it.
You’ve always fallen in line. Never questioned anything we’ve asked of you.
I bet everything on you, that your loyalty would never allow you to bring threats to this family because you’ve been exactly what we’ve told you to be.
” He pauses, pushing a breath out his nose, his lips tight.
“But Rachelle knew. She knew there was some spiteful, ungrateful part of you that would threaten us. It was…at the end of the day…it was always that damn last name. You just wouldn’t change it, and she knew that meant we didn’t fully have you.
I should’ve known, but you fooled me. I wanted to believe you, believe in you, for Simon’s sake. ”
The weight of his words sinks into my chest. It was Rachelle. She never trusted me. She thought I would hurt them. The realization stings. I wanted her to love me. To accept me. All I wanted was to belong here.
And Simon…
“So…Simon doesn’t know about Lia?” I have to know how deep this pain goes. “He doesn’t know I’m not imagining it all?”
Pierce’s eyes go blank. “He thinks you’re exhausted.”
A drop of relief splashes in my chest—small, but there.
Preston shrugs, turning his head to glance at the door. “And once today is over, he’ll think you left him. Or broke down. Wandered off. People do strange things when they’re stressed. And you…well, you’ve been under a lot of stress.”
I stare at them, my breathing shallow, head spinning. “All I’ve ever wanted was to be part of this family. To love Simon. I would never intentionally hurt you. I didn’t fool you. This family, being a Morning, means everything to me.”
“And yet, your loyalty was to someone else.”
“A scared little girl…” My words come out breathless, confused.
How is this even a conversation? “You tested me and made me look crazy, and now what? What are you going to do to me? He’ll realize I’m not with my friends soon enough.
He’ll realize what you’ve done. Simon isn’t stupid. He loves me. He loves me.”
Preston laughs under his breath. “Now who’s trying to sound like they’re in a movie? We’re not going to kill you, Astrid, if that’s what you’re worried about. We’re going to send you away. For your own safety…and ours.”
“Send me away?”
“Some friends of ours have recommended a very good facility on the West Coast. They’ll take good care of you there. Make sure you get the help you need.”
I blink, steadying myself. My ears ring, head pounds.
The lights hum. Behind me, the cameras have begun to fill with a steady stream of people going on about their day. Eating breakfast, chatting on the sofa. In the driveway, someone loads a suitcase into their trunk.
My heart slams against my ribs. A wild animal desperate to be free.
I am desperate to be free.
Pierce’s low voice fills the space between us, swelling until there’s no air left in the room. “Unless, of course, you can tell us where the missing file ended up.”