He looks at me with a devilish smile. “I’m not really sure I want to tell you. A man’s got to have his secrets.”
Now that he was outed as a stalker, he likes to remind us that he had that whole thing going on the side and none of us knew. I roll my eyes. He wants to believe he’s more skilled than me, and he is. But fuck the secrets, we don’t have time for that.
“What if you know something that could help us find her and you don’t realize it because you’ve been looking at the problem from the same angle all along?”
It’s therapy shit I’m using here, and he gives me a serious look of consideration marred with surprise. I have good ideas occasionally, and it pisses me off that everyone acts like it’s such a revelation when I do. Don’t they remember the wardrobe I designed for Sable? That’s talent. Sable saw it in me.
“My brother owed me a favor,” he says, taking me back to the present.
“Which one?” I shoot.
“Calen.” He turns his eyes back to the phone, as if it’s all he’s going to say on the matter.
“He hates you,” I answer automatically.
“Even more so now.” Parker smiles, as if that somehow made his plan all the more clever. Just before I’m about to blow, he continues, “That’s why when he suggested Sable to my father, Dad liked the idea.”
“So your father and brother thought they were punishing you?” I ask, trying to make sure I understand.
“Just my father. He was pissed off about my averages last season. Calen, I happen to have by the balls.”
That all sounds well and good, but threatening members of the founding families never works out well for anyone. His father is the head of the family now, but soon it will be Calen. Parker is playing a dangerous game. I shake my head and look at him, hoping he’s smarter than he’s showing right now.
“And he wouldn’t do something to her to get your grip off his balls?” It feels obvious to me. He gave the person who hates his guts the name of the woman he cares for most.
“He would love to if he could, but killing me wouldn’t even fix the problem, Orion. I’ve covered my bases. They don’t have Sable.”
“No one is talking about you dying. But having her in their hands would be an advantage.”
“For whom? They already have us all tightly leashed,” he asks, finally looking at me.
“I thought it was obvious?”
He sighs as if I’m exhausting him, brushing his hair out of his face. “I looked into them. I told you I covered my bases. They don’t have her.”
“And what about the rest of the founding families?”
And then it clicks. Fucking Soren was always saying that the families wanted us by the balls. That he didn’t want to play with the Offering because of the debt he would owe after.
“I doubt that they did anything when they were the ones who gave?—”
Parker’s words are lost on me. I’m done listening. The idea is already forming, and I get to my feet, noting my father’s gone for the day. This is my chance to be as useful and clever as the rest of them.
“Myfamily is the reason Sable’s gone.”
Parker shakes his head. “Soren fucked Arabella, and she left. We might not know where she is right now, but she left on her own accord.”
“So we believe,” I say, crossing the room.
“Where are you going?”
I turn back to him, my hand already on the knob. “You’re sure your family doesn’t have Sable, but they’re not the onlyFounders, are they? Three more sets of assholes could be responsible, and I’m not sure about mine.”
He groans dramatically, throwing his hands up. “I came here to hang out with you and keep you in line, not to piss off your parents.”
Sure, I can’t deny I’ve been getting crazier and crazier, but each minute without Sable is pain. Parker knows it too. He’s looking like shit and won’t tell anyone why. He calls my name as I leave.
“I cannot let you go do some stupid shit.” He jogs to my side.
