“If she’s there, she’s enrolled under a pseudonym.” We’ve already agreed we think that’s how it went down. “She’s not on some computer system,” I say, shaking my head. “That’s far too risky for Father.” I prop my butt against the edge of the desk, blown away at the prospect she might still be alive. But I won’t allow myself to believe it either. Because my heart can’t sustain any more blows. For now, I’ll allow myself to tentatively hope. But that’s as much as I can permit.
“There is one person who knows the truth,” Jackson says, his eyes darting briefly to Kai’s.
“Christian Montgomery,” Sawyer says.
“You think I haven’t thought of that?” Drew says. “I wanted to ask him, but the truth is he’ll say jack shit, and it’s too dangerous. He’ll tell Dad, and God knows what he’d do then. We can’t take a chance, because if sheisstill alive, we can’t jeopardize her safety.”
“Jesus, Drew.” I press my palms on my knees and lean forward, looking right into my brother’s eyes. “Has she been alive this whole time?” He clasps my hands. “And what have they done to her in that Godawful place.” A tremor wracks my body as I recall how they violated me, and I was only there for five weeks. If we’re correct, she’s been there over ten years.
Imagine the horrors inflicted on her in ten years.
A sob flees my mouth, and my lower lip wobbles as tears pool in my eyes again. “I can’t bear to think about it,” I choke out. Warm arms wrap around, me and Kai pulls me into his chest again.
“Don’t do this, baby.” Kai hugs me fiercely. “Right now, we don’t know anything. I hope she’s alive, and if she is, we’ll help her deal with the aftermath.”
“I shouldn’t have said anything,” Drew says.
“No! You shouldn’t have kept your suspicions from me this long,” I cry out.
“You’ve been through so much already. If I’m wrong…”
I swipe at the hot tears coursing down my face. “Let’s just investigate the staff. There has to be someone we can get to.”
“We’ll need all hands on deck,” Xavier says. “Even with Hunt’s father’s guys, Chad and his crew, and us, we are swamped.”
“We’ve got one week left of Christmas break. If we divvy up tasks between us, we can make good progress.”
“It’s not going to be enough. We’re talking about investigating board members, elite members, Parkhurst employees, and trying to hack into the security system in the basement, plan a wedding and a break-and-enter, and we’ve all got school. You’re working Charlie. Drew’s working your father, and Kai is working Atticus. It’s too much in the timeframe we have to work with.”
He’s right, and I’m wracking my brains trying to think of a solution when Sawyer speaks. “Leave it with me. I’ll talk to my father about setting up a special project team. He has thousands of employees in his company with the kind of skill set we need. I’ll get us more bodies.”
I cock my head to the side. “Why does your father help us?”
“There are many reasons,” Sawyer says before clamming up.
“You should go,” Drew says. “You don’t want to make Charlie suspicious.”
“Just one more thing. Shandra and I had an interesting talk in the bathroom today.”
“I thought that might be the case,” Drew says. “And?”
“And she’s not on board with the whole arranged marriage, and she hates Trent.” I snort. “Not that that’s in any way hard to believe, but she indicated we could be allies. What do you think?” I ask my brother, as he’s the only one here who has any real knowledge of her.
“I’ve always liked her,” Drew admits.
“Me too. She’s smart and she doesn’t ruffle feathers. She avoids drama and divas and she’s always seemed super focused.”
“What’s your gut telling you?”
“That I should explore it but stay sharp.”
“Then do that,” Kai says. “She seems genuine, and she knows how to play the game. You would never know she hates Montgomery from the way she conducted herself today.”
“That’s not necessarily a good thing. She could be playing me.”
“It doesn’t seem likely,” Kai says. “I think you should give her the benefit of the doubt.”
“She also told me what Christian has on her father.” I proceed to fill them in. “You could make that go away fast, right?” I ask Xavier.
