“Are you ready to switch sides then?” Brandt pushes the chair next to him with a nudge of his foot. “I mean, why back a sinking ship?”
I take the chair and lean forward with my hands clasped. I glance at Elizabeth, who watches me with curiosity in her eyes. She wants to know how I’m going to handle this. I doubt she’ll intervene unless things get messy.
“I need your help,” I say, because everything else I want to say sounds threatening. And I can’t do anything to this knob until I figure out where Annie is or narrow down the suspect pool.
“With what? Your lines? Your acting ability?” Brandt chuckles. “I have to admit, you definitely surprised me at the auditions, but this—” he gestures around him. “This is even more surprising. You and EvanAnn seemed pretty solid, so why would you come to me for help?”
“It’s not about acting.” Though I’m sure these two do more than their fair share of lying.
“Okay? What can I do for you?”
“The rose was you.” Fuck this little game. “We have the rose and a witness.”
Brandt smirks and holds up his hands like I caught him. “You’ve got me. What do you want, a confession?” He leans forward and drops his hands. “Actually, do you have me? Or do you just have someone’s story of what they said happened? Because my guess is that won’t hold up in any court.”
He lifts his glass and takes a drink while watching me.
I smile. “You should know by now that we don’t use courts.”
“Oh, I like him.” Elizabeth takes a chair and crosses her legs. “This is the guy who posted the video of Chase, right?”
I glance at her because if I can’t get information out of Brandt, she might know enough to get me where I need to be.
“We don’t have time to play games.” I meet Brandt’s gaze and see the slight hint of fear before he hides it. Good, I want him afraid of what I might do to him. He should know I’m willing to do anything for Annie. “Whatever you set in motion now has legal ramifications.”
Brandt chuckles and leans back in his chair like he has all the time in the world. “What did I set in motion?”
“Jackson Riordan.” It’s not unreasonable to think Jackson was part of Brandt’s game.
Elizabeth grabs a wineglass from the table next to her and takes a sip. “Some people just don’t play well with others.”
“Some people don’t follow the rules,” Brandt says to his sister with a look.
“I mean, Olivia was already a loose cannon.” Elizabeth shakes her head with a wry smile. “She drugged a girl to try to get the guy. What did you expect with someone as unhinged as Riordan?”
“He’s like the rest—easily controlled.” Brandt looks at me like he just remembered I’m in their space. It’s fake like everything he does. “So what do you want to know? I’m sure you can keep this between us, right? No need to involve anyone on the rose. It was a little more potent than I was led to believe.” Brandt glances at Elizabeth with an admonishing look.
She shrugs. “You’re the one that picked a thorny rose. A few thorns would have been enough. Just like I did to Alison. She didn’t have to go to urgent care, but she got the point.” She winks at me like I’m in on the joke.
“I need to know everything.” I glance at my phone. Every fucking second matters and these two will toy with each other indefinitely if I don’t rein them in.
“Okay. Everything.” Brandt blows out his breath. “That’s a tall order.” He stands and makes his way over to the bar. “Do you want a drink? Because this could take a while.” He holds up a bottle of scotch.
I stand and look at the two of them. “You miscalculated.”
“Impossible.” Brandt smirks and pours himself a glass. “I’m meticulous about the details.”
“I need to know who was stalking Annie.” We don’t know who took her. We don’t know who all is involved.
“The list of suspects is long, isn’t it?” Brandt returns to his chair and looks up at me. “Is she spiraling yet? Is that why you decided to confront me? Poor little Annie can’t focus on her play?” He scoffs. “I’m usually pretty good about figuring out what’s going to happen and who to press to get what I want and how I want it, but the Devil’s trio and EvanAnn? I never could have imagined you’d keep her.”
“You think all of this is just one huge game?” I’m getting to the end of my rope. He doesn’t know who took Annie. He thinks I’m here to press him for information.
“Isn’t it?” Elizabeth takes a sip. “Chase was supposed to be the thing distracting EvanAnn. A first boyfriend is ever so distracting. And then her first broken heart would have devastated her, leaving her utterly useless for her play.”
Brandt shakes his head. “But he’s almost as useless as Sophie. The accident fucked everything up.”
“You had to try to divert Damon from his revenge. Give him someone else to focus on.” Elizabeth smirks and takes a sip. “Olivia should have been perfect. Except you didn’t count on EvanAnn and Damon moving in together.”
