“Hurry and come in,” River tells him, opening the door wider.
Theo rushes in, and River shuts the door. Only then does Theo lower his hood.
“I’m nervous about being here,” Theo confesses as he fidgets with his watch band. “If Grey finds out I’m here, I’ll lose my job and everything else I own.”
“He won’t find out,” I promise him, crossing my fingers I can make good on that promise. “You want a drink?”
He desperately nods. “Yes, please.”
I head over to the bar to pour him one while River tells him to take a seat.
“The message you sent me said you wanted to talk to me about Grey’s daughter. That if I showed up here, you’d pay me three hundred thousand dollars,” Theo says as I fill a glass with whiskey.
River drops down into the sofa across from where Theo is sitting. “As long as you answer our questions, we will.” He measures Theo up with a calculating look on his face. “We wanted to know if you were around Maddy and Grey when they did the DNA test.”
He hesitantly nods as he crosses his arms. “I was, yeah.”
I return to the room and hand him the glass. “Did you see the results?”
Theo takes a sip of the whiskey and then wipes his mouth with his hand. “I saw the test happen, but didn’t see the results.”
Not the answer I was hoping for, but that doesn’t mean this guy can’t help us.
I take a seat beside River. “Have you heard anything about the authenticity of the results?”
He stares into the glass. “I… I don’t know.”
River and I glance at each other.
Then River slants forward. “Look, Theo, I want to give you this money. I know your financial circumstances are bad and that your daughter is sick,” River tells him. “I know this money will help you out a lot, but in order for me to give it to you, you have to answer our questions truthfully.”
A slow exhale slips from Theo’s lips. “How do I know you’ll actually give me the money?”
River gets up, crosses the room, and collects the bag with the cash we withdrew from his personal bank account earlier today. James might find out about the transaction, but it’s a risk we’re willing to take.
River sets the bag down on the table. “It’s all in there.” He shows Theo the inside of the bag.
Theo’s eyes go wide at the sight of the stacks of cash inside the bag. “Shit, I’ve never seen so much cash in my life.”
“And it’ll be yours after you answer our questions,” River says as he zips up the bag and tosses it onto the floor beside his feet. “Do you know if Maddy is really Grey’s daughter or is this some sort of scheme?”
Theo remains silent as he drinks the rest of the whiskey, then sets the glass down on the table and eyes the bag on the floor. For a moment, I worry he might try to steal it. He’s a bodyguard too, so he’s got fighting skills. But River and I have connections, and he’s aware of that. If he steals this bag, he’ll be tracked down.
“He’s not her father,” Theo finally says. “In the beginning, Grey was helping your father. They had plans to convince Maddy that Grey is her dad and that he wanted her to marry your brother to protect her.” He looks at River. “They were going to have them get married, then have Finn knock her up so they’d have an heir to take over the world. I’m not sure how they believe they’re going to do that, though. I never heard the details, and honestly, I started to grow a bit worried they were going crazy. There were a few secret meetings where they discussed a ritual that was going to take place on an island. Something about sacrificing Everford blood in exchange for Everford life. It was creepy, and to be honest, I’m glad I’ll be getting the hell out of this city after we’re done talking.”
“This doesn’t make any sense,” River mutters with a frown. “How can they sacrifice an Everford if Maddy is the only one alive…” Sheer terror flashes across River’s face.
He doesn’t have to explain where his mind is at. Mine already got there on its own.
We already know Maddy isn’t the only Everford left. And if James is using her to make an heir, then…
“If this is true,” I say to River. “Then James is planning on killing Maddy’s real mom.”
Maddy’s real mom has been missing for a while, too. So has River’s mother. Is she there on the island too? What the hell is James doing? Has he gone crazy?
River clears his throat a few times before he can speak. “What went wrong?” River asks Theo. “I mean, why isn’t Grey with my father right now?”
“Because your father backstabbed Grey. I’m not sure why. All I know is that he did, and Grey used you two to track down where James is. Now that he has, he doesn’t have much use for you, which is why he hasn’t stayed connected very much.”
