CHAPTER 21
RIVER
Grey’s actingsecretive and distracted every time we meet up with him. I’m not sure if it’s because it’s been over a week since Maddy was taken, and we still haven’t found a way to get to my father’s island. It could be. It’s making me act erratically and stressed. Even Noah is twitchy as he spends most of his time monitoring my dad’s location on the app to make sure he doesn’t leave the island. So far, he’s remained in the same area, although at one point he traveled to the other side of the island, which is kind of strange because, as far as I’m aware, only one house is on the island.
I make a remark about Noah hacking into the satellites to get an aerial view of the place.
“I can try,” he replies as he clicks a few keys on a laptop.
We’re staying in a condo that I rented under an alias. With everything going on, we figured we should lay low and avoid the paparazzi at all costs, since the last thing we want is for my father to have any inkling of what we’re doing.
Classes started at the Academy about three days ago, but Noah, Lily, and I all requested a leave of absence, we said, because of our mother being missing, which is the partial truth. But there was also no way I was going to attend class with Finnand Maddy being held captive. No one is aware of that, though, except for me, Noah, Grey, and his bodyguards. I haven’t even told Lily all of the details, but she’s staying with us, and she senses something is up.
“I think we need to tell Lily some of what’s going on,” I state as I sink down in a chair with a bottle of juice in my hand. “She’s starting to ask a lot of questions.”
The glow of the screen illuminates across Noah’s face as he clicks keys. “Personally, I think you should tell her the truth.”
“It’s too dangerous.”
“It might be more dangerous for her not to know what’s going on.”
“Why? No one is coming after her.”
He glances at me. “River, someone intentionally slammed into Finn’s car so they could kidnap him and Maddy. We all got hurt because of it, Lily the worst.”
I set the bottle of juice down on the table beside me. “Her knowing what was going on wouldn’t have helped in that situation.”
He stops typing and sighs. “If you tell her what’s going on, you might be able to convince her to go someplace else for a while. She could go stay with your aunt May in Ruby Diamond Bay. She’s nice and would protect Lily.”
He has a valid point, but… “I’m worried that if I tell Lily the truth, she’ll want to help.”
“Convince her that being here will make the situation worse because we’ll also have to worry about her, and we need to focus on Finn and Maddy. Be a little harsh if you need to, because Lily has a way of creating drama, and we don’t need that right now.”
Again, he has a point. My sister, while I love her to death, does tend to create a lot of chaos. We never would’ve been in northside that night had it not been for her going off with Will. Not that I blame her for what occurred. If we hadn’t gonethere, my father would’ve found another way to kidnap Finn and Maddy.
It was weird, though, that us going to northside and Will taking Maddy and Fin happened the same night Maddy found out that Grey was her father and that she was for certain an Everford.
“You know what I find kind of suspicious?” I say as I reach for my juice. “That my father took Maddy the same night Maddy had her DNA test done by Grey. It’s such an odd coincidence.”
Noah’s fingers stop moving on the keyboard, and his forehead ceases. “You think someone in Grey’s inner circle is feeding information to your dad?”
“Maybe.” I unscrew the cap on the juice bottle. “Or Grey is working with him.” I’m not even sure why I say it. I mean, it seems crazy, but at the same time… “Grey did know an awful lot about my father’s plan pretty much right after Maddy and Finn were taken.”
Noah’s gaze darts to mine. The living room we’re in is relatively dark due to all of the curtains being closed, but a lamp is on, and the glow of the computer screen adds enough light that I can see question marks flooding his eyes.
But he’s not entirely stunned at what I said. Just a bit thrown off, like he’s considered this as well.
He slides his laptop off his lap, then slants forward and rolls up the sleeves of his shirt before reaching for a glass of water that’s on the table in front of him. “I’ve thought about that, but why would Grey hand over his own daughter to your father? And then put on this huge charade of acting like he’s tracking him down.”
“I don’t know.” I give a contemplative pause. “Unless my dad double-crossed him, which seems like something he’d do.”
Noah nods in agreement, then takes a sip of the water. “It really does.”
I prop my feet up on the table that’s in front of me. “Plus, Grey told Maddy that he was having a bodyguard keep an eye on her. Maddy said it was only while she was at school, but why would he not want to have her watched twenty-four seven?”
“That’s a good point.” Noah sets the glass of water down and then rubs his jawline as he deliberates. Suddenly, his eyes widen. “What if she isn’t even his daughter?”
“But he took a DNA test with her?” I point out. “So she has to be.”
