Jonas giggles.
Giggles.
Then he clears his throat and addresses me again. “Apologies for taking your time, Margie. It’s not often I get to turn the tables on my favorite brother-in-law and torture him instead of being the subject of his pranks. This is a fun twist.”
I nod at the floor and angle toward the vacuum again. “Not a problem, sir.”
“But—have we met somewhere before?”
This is it.
I’m busted.
Caught.
Made.
And I know my half brothers hang out with him, which means they’re going to hear about this from Jonas before I can explain myself, and before I know if I can trust them and if it’s worth asking for their help.
If I find out something I don’t like about the triplets, something that puts my plans—or them—in danger, I leave here, cut off all communications, and go back to my life.
Without the final bullet I need to blow up my father’s control of his personal and professional life.
When I’ve spent four years investing in understanding why I felt so personally betrayed by Daphne being disinherited, and then concocting a plan to pay him back for what he did to her, when he’s so very, very meticulous about everything that it’s taken this long to get so close.
I can’t lose it now.
Ineedto be in control here.
And I’m suddenly not.
I shake my head. Should’ve gone for bangs too. Maybe I’ll add them tonight. “No, sir.”
He’s squinting at me. I can feel it even as I’m not looking directly at him. “Are you—” he starts, only to be cut off by a rough voice.
“Johnson, what are you doing?” Rhys barks. He strides into the room like he—not the other two men in here—owns it. He nods to them before scowling at me again. “Cynthia’s looking for you. Coffee pot exploded in one of the chalets, and they want you on cleanup.”
“Yes, sir,” I say. I catch myself before I curtsy—fucking curtsy, what the fuck?—and lunge for the vacuum.
Cynthia’s head of operations here. Rhys’s boss, and my boss too. Likely reports directly to Jonas and Theo and the third owner, who’s married to the triplets’ cousin, Sabrina.
“Sorry to interrupt,” Rhys says to the two others. “Sounded important. Carpet stains and curtain damage or something.”
“Anyone hurt?” Theo asks.
“Chalet was empty. Window open. Bird turned it on or something.”
I rush through finishing wrapping the cord and lift the vacuum, murmuring a softexcuse meas I step around the men.
“You’re the triplets’ friend,” I hear Theo say to Rhys behind me.
“Knew Decker in the Marines.”
“You’rethe one,” Jonas says. “The one Decker basedRip Tideoff of.”
Rhys grunts. “Yeah. Excuse me. Need to take care of something.”
“I see it,” Jonas says.
