“And you didn’t know about that?” Alex directs his question to Sam.
“You think I would have continued living with my asshole of a stepfather if I had?”
“Then he’s getting the payments and just never told you,” Alex assumes.
“No. This says that they have been sending upwards of ten thousand dollars a month to me. If Gary was getting those checks, I would have noticed. No one can have access to that type of money and show no signs.”
“True.”
“So then where is the money? “Alex crosses one hand over his chest, the other out at his side. “If he doesn’t have it, where is it?”
“I don’t know. But if we can at least find a name of the bank in the files, maybe we can get her access to it,” I suggest.
“I’ll have the means to get custody of Desmond.”
I rub her leg, kneading her knee as I watch tears pool in her eyes.
“What are we going to do?” Kane asks.
The three of us look at Alex. These files were found on his father’s—their father’s—computer, and while this incriminates so many others, this is about the chancellor. If anyone should make the decision, it should be Alex.
“We report it. Give them what we found. They don’t deserve to get off freely while the women they harmed still suffer the consequences.” He crosses his arms over his chest. “So, we go to the police. Today.”
CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
SAM
The car ride back to the lake house is so silent I wonder at what point the life left our bodies. Was it after leaving the police station? Or before?
At this point, it all feels like a fever dream I can’t wait to wake up from. Now we’re headedhome. That’s what they’ve said to me more than once now. For the first time in a long time, that word doesn’t disrupt my nervous system. In fact, a sense of safety washed over me the moment we hit the mountainous road.
We pull into the driveway, the gravel crunching beneath the tires. Kane rolls the car into park and kills the engine. No one moves for a long time. And when we do, Kane is the first to exit, the car shifting with his weight. I watch through the window as he stares into space, his mind clearly occupied as he instinctively opens the back door for me. I step out, searching his face in the process. The others exit at the same time and still we don’t speak.
I enter the house before them, heading straight to the kitchen for water bottles, immediately opening mine and downing half of it in one go. When I return to the living room, the boys are waiting for me. I hand them each a water bottle, and we each move to our own corner. Alex plops down in the center of thesofa, Kane stands in the middle of the room, and Mountain stands next to me as I sit on the arm of the loveseat.
After a beat, Kane turns and glances at me, holding my gaze for what feels like an eternity.
“What are we doing?”
Confused, I frown. “What do you mean? We just have to wait to hear what the invest—”
He shakes his head. “That’s not what I’m asking.”
Mountain’s spine straightens, and Alex sits up. We stare at Kane, each impatiently waiting for him to continue.
“This.” He pauses. “Us. What are we doing? It’s clear that we all have feelings for you. Clear that we all want you.”
My shoulders slump, that dreadful question brimming just beneath the surface.
“But who do you want, Sam? Who do you choose?”
I stand up, frozen in place, my emotions fighting against my thoughts, everything I know and want colliding like a tidal wave. Suddenly it’s hard to breathe, and I have to squeeze my eyes shut. Maybe if I will it away, if I pray hard enough, that question would fade into oblivion. Only I know it won’t. Deep down I’ve known all along. The moment I realized that things with them were shifting, I knew I was in over my head. With each passing day, every study session, every coded argument, every text, I found myself falling off the deep end, and now I’m drowning in them.
I should put them out of their misery and finally make a decision. One by one, I take them in, locking the way they’re watching me into memory. Alex already told me where he stands and, in a way, so has Mountain. I expect one of them to come to my aid, but they don’t. And I realize it’s an answer they want to know as well. Kane’s just the only one willing to ask out loud.
“Me? Alex? Or Bry?”
I sigh, squeezing my eyes shut one more time, but it doesn’t stop my skin from prickling under their scrutiny. Then I look at him.
