“Thanks. It’s actually one of the reasons I stopped by. That and I also want to see your new studio.”
Demi is creative too. Although she still works in the accounting department of her husband’s bank, she owns a small side business, hand-painting furniture.
“I’ll give you a guided tour after this,” I promise, returning to the kitchen to grab my mug.
“Come, sit.” Abby ushers her cousin to one of the couches, and the girls sit beside one another.
Dumping some cookies on a plate, I carry it and my coffee over to the seating area and join them. I flop into a chair and cross my feet at my ankles as I drink my coffee.
“We’ve picked a name, but I wanted to ask your advice on it,” Demi says, staring at Abby with a little wrinkle in her brow.
“Okay.” Abby sneaks a cookie from the plate while waiting for Demi to spill the beans.
“You know I’ve been researching our family tree, discovering more about our grandmothers and their families, etcetera.”
Abby nods, ’cause this isn’t news. Demi has been keeping her cousins updated every step of the way.
“My grandmother’s name was Jane, and my mom was Luana Jane.”
“You want to call your daughter Jane,” Abby surmises.
Demi bobs her head. “Do you think Drew would mind?”
“Jane is a touchy subject. Every time I ask Drew about her, he clams up like an oyster, but I can’t see him wanting you to callyour daughter by any other name if you’ve made up your mind. It’s your choice. Yours and Charlie’s.”
“Drew is important to us. Charlie doesn’t want to upset him, and neither do I.”
“You should talk to him,” I say. “I don’t think he’d say no, but I’m sure he’d appreciate your consideration.” Drew and I are close. Not as close as we were as kids, because he’s way more guarded these days, but I think I know him well enough to know he’d never want Charlie and Demi to pick a different name purely to make him comfortable.
I’m in the middle of showing Demi my studio when my cell rings. “Sorry, I’ve got to take this,” I say when I spot the caller. I leave Abby to continue the tour while I pop into the office and accept Huss’s call.
After William Hamilton was sent to prison, Robert Huss was elected as the new elite president. He got rid of the old board, replacing them with men loyal to him and his reform program. It’s only been a couple years, but he is slowly reenergizing the elite and weeding out all the bad elements. Initiations are a thing of the past. Younger men are still required to become members at eighteen, but no one has to kill men or fuck women to join the elite anymore, and that’s major progress.
It lifted a layer of stress off our shoulders and freed the way for us to actively seek out Rogan and Spencer. After Rogan was identified as the intern, Argon, at Techxet, we thought it would be easy to locate him. But we were wrong. Our brother must have mad skills because there is no trace of him or Spencer anywhere in New York. Hunt and Xavier left no stone unturned trying to find them, but it’s like they’re ghosts. Even facialrecognition software failed to conjure any leads, and we are completely stumped and incredibly frustrated.
Rick and I won’t sleep properly at night until we have reunited with our youngest brothers, so we made the decision to reach out to our new president in the hope he could help. I really hope Huss has good news for us. The longer this goes on, the more I worry they are already entangled in elite shit and that’s why we can’t find them.
I swipe my finger across the screen to answer his call. “Robert. Please say you have news for me?”
“There is some,” he confirms as I close the door and take a seat at my desk.
“What have you discovered?”
“Hamilton wasn’t involved in the adoption. It was Mathers.”
I curse under my breath though I don’t know why I’m surprised. “Does this mean Atticus was involved with Mathers all along?” I wouldn’t put it past my conniving father.
“It’s hard to say, but not inconceivable, especially now we know Mathers was playing several different sides.”
Charlie’s father was working with our dad initially, but we know there was someone else behind the scenes calling the shots. It’s not a stretch to assume this was Mathers. It might explain why Rick and I were matched with Mathers’ daughter and niece at one time.
“What exact intel have you received?” I take a pen and notepad out of my desk drawer to jot down notes.
“His name came up. That’s it.”
An aggrieved sigh leaks from my mouth.
“I know you’re frustrated and worried at the lack of evidence, but someone wanted to keep this hidden for a reason. It’s why we haven’t been able to find any paperwork and why we must be careful who we approach for information and what we say. Wedon’t want to do anything that would place your brothers’ lives at stake.”
