The Insiders by Tijan

FIFTY-FOUR

“You were supposed to never be a problem.”

A chill went down my back and I turned. I was standing on the back patio, a bit of food in my stomach, so the full buzz I’d felt earlier was just a nice, small tickle. We were into the night hours, though I’d lost track of time. Everyone was having a good time, myself included. It wasn’t something I’d expected, but I wasn’t stopping it, either. The publicists’ lying speech aside, I’d been moved by how moved Peter had been at the end, and that feeling stuck.

And I let it.

Cyclone was still running loose with his friends. I saw Seraphina giggling with her friends. I still wanted to look into them, but she seemed happy that night. Chrissy was in full flirt mode, an older man and her had been sitting at the same table for the last hour. I’d never seen her laugh so much, so I was enjoying it.

Kash even relaxed.

Matt’s group had gone inside for a while but then returned a half hour ago. They took up residence around the same bonfire as earlier. All were sitting, lounging. The fire was going, the flames licking over the crystal rocks inside. Drinks had been flowing. Laughter as well. A few of the girls were around. I recognized Fleur, sitting on Matt’s lap, leaning back, with his arm around her hip to anchor her in. She kept sneaking glances at Kash, though. The third friend was on Chester’s lap. Torie and Tamara had taken off, saying their good-byes to me before letting me know they were heading to Naveah, and the rest talked about ending the night at the club, if I wanted to join.

To say that I was surprised Quinn was the one approaching me would have been an understatement, but then I clued in to her words and all that died down. Yeah. Not so surprised now.

She was stepping out of the open patio doors, still looking amazing. Her hair was swept up, pinned to the top of her head in a form of hair crown. Loose tendrils fell down, framing her face. Her makeup didn’t look smudged at all. With her blond hair, the light blue of her dress, she was giving me an ice queen look, and that chill just doubled when I saw the calculation in her eyes.

She wasn’t drunk at all. Oh no. Those eyes were alert, sober, and there were plans, so many plans in them.

I glanced over, reassuring myself that Kash was within shouting distance. She couldn’t do anything to me, not here, not with everyone so close—though the sounds of the party were still loud. The DJ had been playing for the last two hours, and trailing my gaze past her and into the house, I saw that the inside was empty for the moment.

“I wasn’t supposed to be a problem?” I needed a drink. Right? Maybe not. Maybe I needed to have as much of my faculties as possible for this conversation, because I was feeling it wasn’t going to go well.

“No.” She stopped next to me, turning to take in the entire backyard behind us. She lifted her head, drawing in a good breath of air, and her eyes closed for a moment. Opening them, her head held high, she turned to face me. Her side rested just so slightly against the railing behind us. Her lips tugged up, that small grin not inviting at all, and she moved even closer, dropping her voice even though no one was near enough to overhear. “Peter and I have had problems since the beginning.”

I relaxed, slightly.

She was confiding in me. Opening up. That was a good sign, right?

But my gut was still tightening up, and my instincts were telling me to get away from her. Instead, I reached for the railing and held on, my hands wrapping around it.

A soft laugh from her, and she dipped her head down. “Peter’s a cheater. Always has been, even with his first wife. Colleen wasn’t even that bad of a wife, but it didn’t matter to your father. He was an up-and-coming tech genius. Everyone in Silicon Valley wanted a part of him. Then his mother back in Saint Louis fell ill and, well, you know what happened after that. He and Colleen hadn’t ended things, but it was in the works. It was a matter of time.”

She stopped, a hard glint coming back to her eyes. Her mouth pursed together, pinching.

A rougher note fused with her tone. “Peter loved his mother. It devastated him when she took her last turn for the worse, and he wanted to spend more time with her. Said he’d just be out there for the time being, that nothing would change. He was going to leave Colleen.”

Her words ground together, biting with disdain.

“I’m telling you this so you’re aware your mother wasn’t special. You weren’t special.”

I was almost captivated, in a horrifying way.

“No one worked with Peter until I came into his life.”

I couldn’t make myself pull away, and I only wanted to hear what else she had to say. There was a point. She was getting to it. The charitable Quinn was not beside me tonight. She was an altogether different sort of animal.

Bitterness. She was filled with that emotion. And it spilled out as she kept going, a cruelness peeking out over her face, pulling all of her features into a distorted twist. I’d never seen that on another human being. It was fascinating.

“My father was indebted to Calhoun, but he wasn’t the reason I seduced Peter—though seduce is a broad term for Peter. I looked at him, lowered my shirt a little, and promised him he could take my ass.”

So not needed. So not.

Wait.

“My father was indebted to Calhoun…”

Seduce.

Then a different voice, a memory. “Quinn knows Kash’s family…”

Off. This felt off. And wrong.

Where was Kash?

I turned, looking for him, frowning. He was heading our way, but Victoria was there. Of course. Fucking cosmic timing, right? I expected him to pass her by, ignore, but no. That wasn’t happening. She touched his arm.

He was bending his head toward her.

A concerned look on his face, but his eyes lifted. He looked at me.

She said something more, tugging on his sleeve, and he looked back at her.

What was she doing? What was he doing?

I was stung.

This wasn’t normal Kash. He ignored her. He snapped at her. That was what he’d done before now. But then I flashed back to my speech. I had told him how it was going to be. I was declaring my feelings, saying he had to talk to me.

A stab of doubt pierced me. Had I been wrong to do that?

With horror, in slow motion, I saw him give me a hardened look before he turned and followed her.

He followed her.

What the hell?

I started to go after them, but Quinn got in front of me. She blocked me, and her mouth was moving. She was still speaking.

What was she saying?

She kept on. “He was only too eager. It wasn’t hard work to ensnare Peter, make him fall in love with me, or at least give him all the promises that he wanted. Infidelity was part of our agreement. I was fine with him being with other women. It was what I could offer that Colleen couldn’t. Your father had never curbed his need for women, still hasn’t, though his focus has been more singular lately.”

What was going on here?

Why was Quinn coming to me, telling me all this? Why now? Or—a lump was forming in my stomach—why here?

Because she felt safe.

No. I dismissed that thought, though it came to me in a whisper, from the back of my mind. That made no sense. None of this was making sense.

“Arcane was sent by someone who knows my grandfather…”

“Everything’s been fine. Everything’s been wonderful. Peter could fuck whoever he wanted, but so could I.” She paused now, looking at me again. Her eyes narrowed to slits. “That was, until your last essay to get that Phoenix Tech scholarship for graduate school. You talked about the father you never had, the lie your mother told you.”

I wrote that essay so long ago.

Go, get Kash.

That thought nagged at me, speaking up in the back of my mind.

It was a personal piece. We had to include our mentors growing up, along with the prospects of a proposed graduate project. The best of the best didn’t have to go to school, not in this career path, but Chrissy pushed school. She wanted a degree by my name, said education was the best way to cement your future. She didn’t understand the technology world, but as long as I could continue going to school with those scholarships, I went. I went for her, and I had learned it was my real father who had paved the way.

And that essay.

I should get Kash.It was more insistent now.

I talked about the father Chrissy told me about, the one who had fought for our country and died in an attack. She gave me names and credentials, and she had friends from the VFW who helped along her lie. She talked about my father and I poured all of that into that essay, saying I wanted to help our country but in a different way. I wanted to use the skills I had to continue his work, and I was just now remembering it.

My voice was so small. “Peter read that essay?”

“Quinn knows Kash’s family…”

“Read it?” She snorted. “He was infuriated by it. It pissed him off that he’d been replaced by a military hero. Your father isn’t a perfect man. He has faults, but he does have good qualities, and stepping back, respecting your mother’s wishes so you could have a normal and safe life, was hard for him. I had to respect him for it. He was trying, but he has an ego. He has pride, and learning how you were, that you were being guided by a memory of a lie, it set something off in him. He started talking more and more about that time with your mother. He started watching you more. He’d always kept tabs, but it was more. He asked Kash to personally take an interest, and once Kash started, he became captivated. I knew we were headed down a bad path.”

Kash?

“Arcane was sent by someone who knows my grandfather…”

He’d been watching me that whole time?

I looked over to where he was, but he wasn’t there. An alarm sliced through me, but it wasn’t enough. Kash wouldn’t have stepped away, not completely. He would have worried about me, made sure I was fine.

But he wasn’t there. In fact, the entire group wasn’t there. They were gone.

I looked around, now seeing we were almost completely alone.

“Quinn knows Kash’s family…”

I was being plagued. Haunted.

What was happening?

“Drew Bonham is right now causing a scene at the front gate.”

Drew?

What?

I was confused, but then she kept going. “Victoria has probably pulled Kash into a bedroom. I’ve no doubt she’s trying to seduce him. No one is here to save you. No one is here to rescue you. At this moment, Drew is doing what he was told to do. So while you think you’re safe because everyone is around, they’re not.” She was so cold, but smug at the same time. “They’re all running, at this very moment, in the opposite direction. Away from you. And you, my dear, are completely alone.”

Drew …

His name was familiar …

Get Kash now!

Bonham.

Thoughts and pieces of the puzzle were fitting, forming— clicking.

Drew Bonham. The husband. Matthew.

The guy who tried to poison Matt, whose wife was sleeping with Matt—was helping Quinn now?

I was going to be sick.

Cold sweat dripped down my back.

“Arcane was sent by someone who knows my grandfather…”

“Quinn knows Kash’s family…”

The voices. The memories. Round and round.

“My father was indebted to Calhoun…”

Round.

Again.

And then, nothing.

Calm.

Silence.

I knew.

I knew who hired the kidnappers.

Her smile was evil, her words soft. “You’re a very stupid little girl, aren’t you?”

It was too late to get Kash.