“How is that possible?” Charlie asks. “I know it’s not that challenging to wipe stuff from the internet, but wiping official identities is top-level shit.”
Ares’s smug grin reappears. “We are top-level shit, Barron. Forget your pathetic little elite club because we run rings around you. We own you.”
Drew, Charlie, Kai, and Sawyer all exchange wary looks.
Ares chuckles. He really is an asshole. He just can’t help himself.
Knight clears his throat, letting his gaze bounce around the room. “There is nothing, and I mean, literally nothing, the Luminaries can’t do.”
ChapterThirty-Two
Drew
“Except find out what happened to my friend and her family,” Abby says, narrowing her eyes to slits as she stares at the four men.
It’s a valid point.
“This happened before we came into power, and we can’t find something that isn’t there. With the traffickers, there were leads to follow, but there is nothing to go on in relation to the Ford family. We have spoken to hundreds of people who might have known back then, but no one remembers seeing them,” Knight says.
Athena removes her hand from mine and sits upright in her chair. Her eyes are pained when she looks at me. “I think I was wrong earlier.” Tears pool in her eyes. “I think my fatherisinvolved.”
“We suspect as much,” Jase says, but neither of us are looking at him. “Although we haven’t found any evidence we can use to move on him, we suspect he is one of the group loyal to Rhett Carter. But we don’t know if he was directly involved or he’s just trying to cover it up for someone else.”
“What do you know?” I ask, swiveling in my seat so I’m facing her. Our knees touch.
“I was fifteen when the Hanks family from Wyoming came to stay with us. Dad said David Hanks was an old friend from his Stanford days. His wife was Susan, his eldest daughter Francesca, and they had two younger kids. A boy, Justin, who was about seven, and a baby, Florence.” Her chest heaves. “Francesca was seventeen, and she had the most beautiful blonde hair and gorgeous blue eyes. She was really pretty, and I remember being envious of her wardrobe.”
All the air is sucked from my lungs, and I couldn’t say a word even if I wanted to. I’m vaguely aware of Abby hopping up and dashing to the sideboard.
“She was super sweet and always nice to me, especially when my stepmom was being a cunt.” Her eyes flit to Ares for a split second, and I grab her hands, keeping her attention focused on me. I do not like that asshole, and why is he so invested in Athena? I want to wipe the arrogance off his face every time he looks at her.
“Here.” Abby thrusts a photo album in Athena’s face. “This is Jane. Is it the same girl?”
A heavy weight sits on my chest as I look at the open page. It’s a picture of Jane and me, taken a few months before I sent her away. She’s sitting in my lap, laughing at something I’d said, and Abby had captured a sneaky photo.
I haven’t looked at our old albums for years because the thought of it always hurt so much.
Now, the overriding sentiment is sadness and anger. Jane’s life was snuffed out from her before it had really begun in the most heinous way.
Silent tears roll down Athena’s cheeks, and she nods. “Yes, that’s her.”
My head drops to Athena’s shoulder, and her body shudders as she cries. Abby is sobbing again, and Kai gets up, coming over to hold her. My arms go around Athena’s waist as hers land on my back.
No one speaks, and the only sounds in the room are that of the two women crying.
After a few minutes, Knight clears his throat. “What do you remember, Athena? How long were they living with you, and how did they leave?”
She crawls into my lap and wraps her arms around me. I cling to her, inhaling her scent and the feel of her warm body against my cold one. I’m still processing, and my head is a mess.
“They were with us for like six or seven months. Then one morning I woke, and they were gone.”
Rage charges through my veins, and I want to tear her father limb from limb.
“I was upset,” she continues, holding on to me tighter, no doubt feeling the anger hardening my muscles and strengthening my resolve. “I considered Francesca a friend, and I was so in love with baby Flo. I was suspicious too because I really didn’t think they’d disappear without saying goodbye. But Dad said they were running from some men who wanted to do them harm and we had to tell no one they’d been staying with us. I bought that because they hadn’t left our house or the grounds the entire time they’d stayed with us, and Francesca had said they needed to lay low though she didn’t explain why, and I didn’t pry.”
“I’m going to kill him,” I growl.
“I’ll help you,” she coolly replies, and the look in her eye is completely sincere. “If my father was involved in what happened to Jane and her family, he deserves every bit of pain coming his way.”
