Chapter 33
The Fallout
Jack
I can’t get in from Luke’s room. Fuck.
I wrap up the session on Luke’s computer and then make my way to the door. Tapping twice, I wait. Nico taps back once.
When I step out into the hallway, I gesture in the direction of William’s office. This is where things get tricky. There’s more risk of getting caught doing it this way. There’s no way a guy as paranoid as William Foster doesn’t have hidden cameras.
Hopefully, he’s cocky enough to connect them to his laptop and I can bring them all down for a few minutes and splice in some looped tape. It’ll take precious time, but I love a challenge. Nico leads the way through the house.
There are extra people helping with dinner and potentially other employees around, so we keep to the walls and move quietly. We duck into William’s office and shut the door, leaving the lights off.
Nico does a quick sweep with the cam/bug finder. He nods to a corner. I open the laptop and get to work. We don’t have a lot of time, but fortunately William is a creature of habit and his passwords take on a certain style I figured out long ago.
Once I’m in, Nico taps twice on the desk and gestures to the door. He’s going to watch outside. Nodding, I work first on the camera footage, overlapping the time when we walk in with the empty office footage from a few days before with the same time stamp.
I put a flash drive in the port and begin to copy anything relevant or not. I can sort through the files later when I’m on my own laptop without network access. There’s a lot of new files on his computer that I’ve never seen before.
When I switch out drives, I check my phone for the time and to see if we’ve received a text. Plenty of time left.
I scroll through his email while the files copy. He’s good about deleting his email, but doesn’t always remember to wipe the server. I copy a few interesting subject lines and then do a search for Bruce Ross (Caden’s father), Mark Lee (Nico’s father), and Angela Brown (Sidney’s mom).
Anything that comes up I save to the file.
My eyes scan and pause on Davidson. It’s an email sent to Jennifer Davidson. I copy it, but scan it. It doesn’t make any sense, but maybe I’m just in too much of a rush. I’ll review it later.
I close everything and make sure the desk is exactly how I found it. Nico slips in and holds up two fingers. Two minutes. Got it.
I give him the gesture for let’s get out of here. We duck out into the hall and Nico pulls me into the room across from the office. We wait and then I hear footsteps. The office door opens and closes.
Fuck. That was close.
Luke
My dad drones on about work and family until I want to jab the steak knife in my heart just to end this all. Penny nods beside him every time he includes her in the conversation. She’s stiff and terrified, that much is obvious.
She should be if she’s planning on living under this roof. I’m still trying to make sense of this strategy. Does he want to show me I’m replaceable? Fine, replace me. Fucking hell, I’d love that.
Or is he making her vulnerable so I have to take care of her?
Either way, when this is over, my sister and I will be having a long talk. Not here. Fuck no. I don’t need him listening in on our conversation. Apparently, I should have let the girl talk to me earlier.
I’ve never paid much attention to her, but now that I look at her, I can see my father’s eyes and lips. I’m surprised he didn’t warn me about her so I wouldn’t fuck her. That would have been inconvenient.
Maybe she’s been a spy for my father this whole time? Fuck. That’s definitely an angle he would take advantage of. She’s gotten close to Harper. Maybe I should just let Penny deal with whatever my dad—our dad—wants to throw her way.
My father looks way too smug as he finishes his wine. “I think I’ll skip dessert tonight and head to my office. You two need some time to get to know each other. It was lovely seeing you again, Harper.”
He stands and walks out the door. The servers clear our plates and bring out chocolate cake. I quickly text Nico to tell him my dad is on the move. Hopefully, they were able to get what we needed.
Penny glances around as the servers leave us. “I wanted to tell you.”
I shrug. “I know now.”
“Why didn’t you say something?” Harper’s hand curls into mine again and warmth fills me.
Penny’s eyes glisten. Fake or real? Will I ever be able to trust this girl? My sister?
“I didn’t know who my father was until I turned twelve. Then I was ushered into a lawyers’ office with four lawyers glaring at me and my mom explaining I needed to sign this NDA.”
“And how much did he pay for you to sign that?” I sit back in my chair without touching my chocolate cake. Most likely he wanted to terrorize her into silence. A contract wouldn’t have been legally binding.
Penny’s cheeks flush with color. “My mom did the best she could, but he made sure I didn’t want for anything growing up. I didn’t know that until I read the terms of the NDA. If I said anything to anyone, my mom would have to repay every cent she ever received from William Foster.”
Smart. Make the girl beholden to her mother and make it so painful she couldn’t say anything. “Why twelve?”
She grows redder. “My mom realized guys were noticing me and she didn’t want me to accidentally have sex with my half-brother.”
“Why are you living with him now?” Harper leans forward. She barely ate her dinner and now she pushes her cake away. I need to make sure she gets fed.
Penny shrugs and a tear falls down her cheek. I’m still not able to tell if it’s real or fake. “I’m seventeen until May. He threatened to take everything away from my mother if I didn’t come live with him. I’m not an adult, so I don’t have a say in it.”
I do the math quickly. She was born almost nine months after me.
The moment Harper starts to soften toward her I almost curse. Fuck. I know what she’s going to tell Penny before she opens her mouth.
“You don’t know your father.” Harper glances toward the door, but I squeeze her hand to make her look at me.
I give her a shake of my head and narrow my eyes. She can’t tell Penny what she knows. Because Harper shouldn’t know about my abuse. No one should.
“Do you know where your room is?” I ask pointedly to Penny.
She nods. “I was going to tell you earlier, but somehow William always seems to know what I do. Even if he isn’t part of my life.”
I blow out a breath. Fuck. He’s been watching her. Of course, he has. She’s a fucking asset to him. Another clone of his creation.
But she’s also in danger every second she’s in this house.
My phone buzzes.
Nico:
All good. Meet you in twenty
Fuck.
“Grab whatever you need.” I give Penny a hard look. “We’re going out for burgers.”
Harper
The car is quiet the whole way to the restaurant. Penny plays with her fingers as she stares out the window into the night from the backseat. I’m not as surprised as I thought I’d be.
All those looks Penny gave Luke make sense now. She wasn’t hoping he’d fuck her. Ew. She just wished he’d known that she was his sister. How do you grow up with someone and not realize they’re your sibling?
Luke parks in the lot and glances in the rearview mirror at Penny. “I can’t trust you. You know that, right?”
Penny nods and sighs. “I called my girls to meet us here. I’ll hang out with them while you guys talk. You can trust me though. Not because I’m your sister, but because I care about Harper. And you.”
I open the door and climb out of the car. When she joins me on the sidewalk, I ask, “You were going to break the NDA earlier?”
She nods. “So many times I wanted to tell Luke, but my mom barely gets by as it is.”
“Did you become friends with me to get close to him?” It’s been buzzing around my head since she appeared in the dining room.
“A little.” She gazes at me sheepishly. “The other parts are true too. I really do want to be friends with you. There’s a reason I always had a boyfriend. I couldn’t risk one of the horsemen or Luke claiming me. Especially if I couldn’t tell them why.”
I nod. Luke puts his arm around my shoulder and leads me into the restaurant. Jack, Nico, Caden, and Eli wait for us at a booth. My heart swells to see them all.
“You don’t need to worry about me.” Penny gestures to the table with her friends. “I’ll be over here.”
Luke leads me over to our table. As soon as we sit down, the server brings over burgers and fries for everyone. The others glance toward the table with Penny at it with curiosity.
“Thank you.” I pull my plate closer and take a bite. Fuck, I’m hungry but my stomach was shredded during the entire farce of a dinner. I was on edge waiting for Luke’s father to do something to one of us.
Nico drapes his arm around my shoulders. “You okay?”
“She’s good.” Luke glances over at the table of girls. “Penny Wright is my half-sister.”
Jack’s eyes widen and he glances that way. “Fuck, dude.”
“At least she isn’t on any of your lists.” I pop a fry in my mouth and look around the table. “That would have been hella awkward.”
Caden chuckles and glances toward another table. Ava and her two friends with dark hair sit across from Zoey and her friend from the bathroom at the game. The table separates the two groups and they don’t look happy to be together.
“So, we have another sister to look out for?” Caden leans back. “At least that might take the heat off you, little nympho. More targets.”
“Yeah, but it also means you two can’t just stay over.” I dip my fry in some ketchup. Already missing their warmth in my bed.
“I’m sleeping at your house, princess.” Luke gives me a stubborn look and I love him for it, but that’s not our new reality.
“You can’t leave Penny in that house alone. We both know it.” I lean in and kiss his jaw. “You can’t leave her with your father.”
“He won’t do anything to her,” Luke protests.
“Like he wouldn’t do anything to you?” I blow out a breath. I’m not naive. Penny is a pawn in whatever game William is playing. “We’re sitting on a powder keg and blowing at the flames heading toward it. We can’t let our guard down. Your dad did this on purpose. We just need to figure out why.”
Jack clears his throat. “I’ve got files to sort through, but there may be a specific reason he wants Penny under his thumb. And that reason is you, Luke.”
Luke crosses his arms. “You think I haven’t thought of that? He knows he can’t force me to do anything. Harper would be useful, but she’s not under his thumb. Penny is his daughter. That means he has rights to her. But what if he’s been using her all along?”
“Then why not tell you about her?” I touch his thigh.
That part has bothered me. “If he really wanted you two to be close, he would have had her in your life from the beginning. You would have stood up for her and maybe the two of you would have been friends or at least siblings. It would have made it easier to control you. Now, she’s starting from ground zero.
There’s perceived loyalty because you guys are family. But your family has been crap to you.”
He sighs and glances toward Penny’s table. “Why bring her in if he wants me to look for your dad’s stuff?”
“Maybe he realizes we don’t have anything.” Eli glances toward the girls. “If he did orchestrate the whole break-in last night then he has your laptop. Sure, Jack tried to kill it, but they could have disconnected it from the internet before that happened.”
“There’s nothing on my laptop.” Luke shakes his head.
“Exactly,” Eli says. “Nothing. Maybe he doesn’t think it’s helpful for you to be close to Harper anymore and instead of just telling you, he’s done this. Hoping you’ll be suspicious or protective or both. Either way, you’ll pay more attention to Penny, leaving Harper alone again.”
Eli’s dark gaze flicks to mine. “Except he doesn’t know she’s not alone.”
A shiver runs through me. Someone could get to me if I’m alone again. “If Mom gets called into work—”
“We’ve got you covered.” Nico presses a kiss to my temple. “Between Eli, Jack, and I, we can make sure you’re protected at night. It’s our turn to step up. Caden has to worry about Ava, and Luke has to worry about Penny.”
I push my remaining fries around. “I don’t know how Mom will feel about you guys staying over.”
“Then we don’t tell her, kitten.” Eli smirks. “We can get in and out without anyone noticing.”
“My parents are staying in town for a while.” Caden nods. “That means Ava will be safe. If the others can’t make it work, I’ll try.”
I shake my head. “My mom will know your parents are here. She might feel bad with you all alone in that house by yourself, but she’s not going to feel bad if you are just trying to fuck her daughter.”
Caden’s grin is wicked and heat gathers in my belly. I chew on a fry to distract myself.
“When are you talking to Ashley?” I need a change of subject and glance at Eli.
Eli blows out a breath. “Tomorrow at lunch. I need to have time to set up the meet.”
“Do you think she’ll go for it?” Some strange guy in a mask doing what she wants Eli to do to her? I don’t know if I’d go for that, but I’m not in Ashley’s situation. I don’t understand her needs.
“We need her information. Zach’s guys keep giving us the slip or they just aren’t meeting this week.” Nico squeezes my shoulder. “Jack needs time to go through the files. We’ll all be on high alert until we figure out what the plans are.”