For what reason?I thought, feeling desperate. Why would he target people who could never pay him back?
Unless... he wasn’t after their money, but something else. Information? Dirt on the company? Secret files? To what, blackmail my parents, hoping for a big payout? Attempt a hostile takeover of the company? I shook my head, my thoughts whirling, more options presenting themselves, each darker than the last. Yes, Theohatedthe rich, but this was targeted, and it made me wonder what on earth my parents could have done to become the focus of his hatred.
My parents were good people. I believed that with my whole heart. Were they perfect? No. But they’d never tried to hide their failures, always used them as teaching moments for Blake and me growing up. As far as I knew, there weren’t any skeletons in their closet.
Two people parted in front of me, and I finally caught sight of my brother again.
I beelined toward him, slipping my arm through his and, as casually as I could, dragging him sideways, almost bumping right into Feddy and Julia, who were too busy pawing at each other to notice us—gross. Once we were clear of the crowd, I pulled Blake to a stop by the far wall, beside another hollowed-out doorway. “What the fuck are so many of Mom and Dad’s employees doing here?”
“Oh, you finally caught on, did you?”
“Blake, answer me!”
“I don’t know, okay? It’s the one puzzle piece I haven’t put together yet.”
“How did you even know they would be here?”
“Because, I told you, I’ve been paying attention. Ever since that first party. While you were god knows where, Theo was busy buttering up Tori.”
“Our parents’ chef?”
“Yes. I heard them talking in the kitchen and listened by the door, and he put on that charming act of his and asked her a bunch of questions about Mom and Dad. He did it again at every event after. Any time your back was turned, he’d slip off and go talk to the staff, or someone close to our parents. Didn’t you see him at the company party?”
My thoughts cast back to that night, memories dominated by the fights with Maddie and Theo, and then what happened afterward. I focused, and a fractured image of Theo yukking it up with a group of people after dinner finally materialized.
Now here all those people were.
Betrayal and anger raced through my veins. Theo had been playing me this whole time, and I was an idiot for not seeing it. For being so consumed with my own predicament and sickness and worries that I’d been too distracted to see the forest for the trees.
Blake took my elbow and towed me past the doorway, down another narrow tunnel and into a dead-end side shoot. “I talked to Jessica at the museum, and she told me Theo mentioned something to her about how he threw his own parties. I knew that had to mean he was going to send her an invitation, so I went right to the police station afterward and told them everything I knew. I wasn’t about to sit back and give him the chance to execute whatever fucked-up scheme this is.”
I braced a shoulder against the wall, swaying. Oh, god. This was bad. This was so, so bad. “Blake, he’s going to kill you.”
“He won’t get the chance. The police are on their way right now.”
An icy wash of fear sluiced down my spine. “Why did you bring me here?”
“Because I thought you’d be happy!” he yelled, his voice bouncing off the stone. “I thought you’d want to see the look on Theo’s face when he was arrested, but I didn’t realize you’d caught feelings for the manactively blackmailing you.”
I winced, not bothering to defend myself because the accusation was warranted. Ihadcaught feelings for Theo. Because I thought we’d been working together toward a righteous end goal. But now I knew that I’d never been anything to him but another game piece to move across the board toward his ultimate goal.
“The cops will probably raid this party with a SWAT team,” I told Blake, because this wasn’t my first rodeo with illegal events. “Everyone inside will be arrested. Including all of our parents’ employees.”
“Yeah, but they’ll be released once the cops realize they’re innocent.”
So smart, yet so fucking naïve. “The cops are not the good guys, Blake, and the sooner you realize that, the better. We need to find some way to quietly get everyone out of here.”
A dark shape stepped into the mouth of the alcove.
Blake and I spun around.
Theo.
Fuck.
He pointed at my brother. “Take him.”
Two burly men appeared, heading straight for Blake.
