This is Cecil’s laptop.
The one Katherine specifically told me to take back to the office.Now I’ve gone and broken it.
She’ll kill me for this.
Worse, she’ll fire me.
I freeze, staring at the laptop in horror.I shouldn’t have rushed to get out of here.I should have been more careful.
Zach bends down and picks it up, turning it in his hands.He prevented me from falling.I should thank him, but I’m shaking too much.
“Please tell me it’s okay,” I whisper, but a part of me knows it isn’t.He pulls it out of its sleeve.Thank goodness it had some semblance of protection.He opens it, and the screen lights up.
The tension in my body eases , but as I peer at it, I see a crack splintering from the lower corner.It’s thin, and hairlike, crawling like a spider underneath the glass.The image flickers, and a faint bleed of color runs through the display like an ugly stain.
Cecil will notice.
I clap a hand over my mouth, shock oozing out in a gasp.“I’m dead.I’m actually dead.”The blame will land squarely on my shoulders.I can already see Katherine’s face, hear her voice, see her big, glaring eyes bugging out of their sockets because I’ve done the unthinkable.
Where is Tom?
This wouldn’t have happened had he been here to do his job.
“It’s okay.”Zach looks at me, calm and unaffected while my world unravels with every passing second.
“It’s not okay!This is Cecil’s laptop.I was supposed to return it to the office, not break it.”
“Relax, Maya.I’ve got this.”
I open my mouth, a hundred questions at the ready, but Zach’s on his cell phone, sitting down at one of the big comfy chairs in the hotel lobby.He sets the laptop on a coffee table.I’m aware that he shouldn’t have access to it.No one should.I walk over to him, with no plan, other than feeling utterly helpless.
“Matteo … uh … sorry about this, but I need a favor,” he says, sounding a little uneasy suddenly.Then, “Yes.Now.”He catches me staring at him, then looks away, assessing the laptop again.“There’s been an accident.I’ve got a cracked screen, but the laptop still boots.”
“Who are you talking to?”I whisper, but he’s focused, doesn’t hear me.
“I don’t care what security layer it’s on,” he snaps.“I need it fixed quietly and fast.Please.”
I need to do something.He could be selling secrets to a spy.I’m aware that I’m paralyzed by inaction, but Zach has thrown me for a loop, and I don’t have any other options right now, other than to see where this goes.
He turns the laptop over.“I’ll send you the serial number and the model.Can you clone the drive and swap the display?”
What?
Then, he says, “Appreciate it.Thanks, man.”He hangs up.
My heart thunders in my chest.“Who were you talking to?”
“My … uh … brother,” he says.“Matteo.”
I’m about to say that he doesn’t have a brother called Matteo, but then I remember.
He’s one of the secret brothers, from the secret family.
I remember when Zach told me.How we got talking one day.I was walking past the boathouse and he was sitting on the edge of the old wooden jetty by the lake, skimming stones across the water.The boathouse sat slightly apart from the main house, and I only ever passed it when I was running an errand for my mom.I stopped, we stared at one another and he waved at me to come over.
So I did.
We got talking about things.About schools, at first.He seemed slightly embarrassed telling me about the school he was at.It sounded fancy.I told him about my public high school, overcrowded and loud, with teachers who looked like they didn’t want to be there.
