The First Rule by Nicole S. Goodin

22

Ryan

“I was right.He hired a fucking private investigator to spy on her,” I hiss down the phone as I slide into the driver’s seat of my car under the cover of darkness.

“What are you getting all high and mighty about, you’re essentially doing the same thing,” Rebel replies, full of sass. “Only difference is you’re the one sneaking around in the dark and acting all stealth.”

“I’m not sneaking around in the dark.”

I’m completely sneaking around in the dark, but shit I hate it when she’s right. I’m also not entirely hating this. I’ve always loved a mystery; I just wish that Darcy and our baby weren’t in the middle of it all.

“Just tell me what you found out, some of us have a business to run. We can’t all be out playing vigilante.”

That makes me feel a little guilty. I’ve left her high and dry at R&R’s lately. Firstly, because I was too much of a wreck to even get out of bed, and now, because I’m on a mission to find out what the hell my brother is up to. I’m a shitty business partner, but Rebel is taking it like a champ. She knows I would cover her arse the same way, and this is what we do – we pick up each other’s slack. Secretly, I think she’s just glad to see my personal hygiene standards return.

I’m finding relief in action. I’m finally doing something.

I just met with an old buddy of mine – Rusty. I still don’t know what he does for a living, in fact, I don’t even know his real name, but whatever his secret business is, he can find out anything about anyone. He’s come in more than handy over the years, even though it tests my ethics and morals every single time.

“Rusty gave me the name of the guy that Jacob hired. This PI had eyes on Darcy for about a month before she left me. I don’t know how he did it, but he had a copy of the PI’s notes and the report he gave to Jacob. It’s all in there, every last thing, right down to the dates she saw our doctor for ultrasounds.”

“Creepy.”

“Understatement.”

“So he knows you knocked up his wife then?”

“She’s not his fucking wife. She’s not his anything,” I snap.

“That’s not what the gossip columns are saying.”

“I don’t give a shit what they’re saying, get your head out of the fucking Women’s Weekly and go and do some work, would you?”

She snorts a laugh. “What are you, eighty? No one buys magazines anymore, it’s all online.”

I blow out a breath. She’s wrong though, I still buy them – more importantly, one. “The sentiment still stands,” I say, my patience running thin. “Do you have anything genuine you want to contribute or are you just here to see how far you can get my blood pressure to rise?”

“Oh calm down,” she retorts, completely unfazed by my outburst. “I’m just saying, she’s something to him. But if I had to guess, she’s a pawn – a possession. This is all about image. I’m assuming he knows that your swimmers made it to her egg.”

“He knows,” I confirm.” And you’re right… everything is about image with my father and him. His goal in life is to take over Steele Enterprises. He’d never get the green light from our old man unless everything was perfect. And I doubt that a runaway groom and a knocked-up ex is the definition of perfect.”

“Your dad sounds like a real wanker.”

“Only one out there worse than my brother,” I reply. I don’t even feel guilty for thinking of my own flesh and blood in that way anymore; I’ve made my peace with it. Just because you share DNA with someone, doesn’t mean they have to be in your life.

It’s not until that thought crosses my mind that it hits me.

We share DNA. Not only do we share it, but it’s bound to be identical, because we’re identical.

Oh my god.The pieces of the puzzle click together before my eyes.

“I know what he has over her,” I say quickly, my voice shaking. “Holy fuck, it all makes sense.”

“Oh god, it’s bad isn’t it, I bet it’s bad.”

“The baby’s DNA...” I breathe. “It’ll match mine, and his.”

“What?” Rebel demands, confused, quickly followed by, “Ohhh. Oh my god. That son of a fucking bitch.”

That doesn’t even come close to covering it. I can’t believe I didn’t think of it sooner. He’s blackmailing her, I know it.

“But why wouldn’t she just tell you? You would have helped her.”

“I don’t know. Fear? I get that she’d be afraid of him. He’s a powerful man. Weak where it really counts, but powerful at getting what he wants. And I’m no match for the money and standing that comes with that company. I could spend everything I have, and it still wouldn’t come close. They’ve got judges in their pockets, friends in all the right places... and I’m just the rogue son who threw away his key to the kingdom.”

“Best move you ever made, buddy.”

Her words hit me right in the chest.

This is why I love Rebel; she might be a total pain in the arse, and an absolute nightmare when she wants to be, but when I really need her, she’s got my back. She gets me.

“So, because you’re twins, she wouldn’t be able to prove that you were the father and not him, and therefore, it would become a custody battle. One that you’re telling me he would win.”

My blood runs cold. “That’s exactly what I’m telling you.”

I’ve seen how ruthless Jacob can be in business, it was never something that came naturally to me – I cared too much about the people working beneath me… about the companies on the other end of the business deal. But not Jacob, he cares about no one, and nothing more than he cares about Steele Industries and making it to the top. I shouldn’t be surprised he’s willing to stoop to this level, but I still am. This is so much bigger than business. This is Darcy’s life. My life. Our child’s life. I don’t know how anyone could stoop so low.

Fuck.What a mess.

“What am I going to do?”

I don’t expect her to actually have an answer for me, I’m not sure there is an answer to this, but a problem shared is a problem halved and all that.

“Honestly? I have no idea. But we’re taking him down, one way or another.”

* * *

For two smart men,my brother and father have been incredibly stupid and careless on this particular front.

I still have access to Steele industries.

Jacob and I shared an access code when I worked for the company – our birth year – and it seems that he never thought to change it.

I haven’t set foot inside that building, let alone these offices since the day I walked out of here, but I’m back now – albeit under the cover of darkness once again, and at stupid o’clock.

I have no idea what I’m hoping to find, but I have to try and find something. Jacob’s life is this office, so I figure if there’s anything he’s hiding, it’ll be here.

After hours of contemplating and scheming with Rebel, we both came to the same conclusion… If you can’t beat ‘em – join ‘em.

Blackmail. It’s the only option Jacob has left me with. I need to find some kind of dirt on him and then use it as leverage to get Darcy out of this mess.

I have no idea what I’m hoping to find, but I do know one thing, there are no shortage of dodgy dealings as far as my brother is concerned, so rather than it being a matter of ‘if’ I find something, it’s more like ‘when’. I just have to hope that I find something big enough to stop him in his tracks.

I slip through the doorway from the staircase and into the deserted reception area.

I’m confident there’s no one here, but I’m still on high alert.

I also know there are no cameras on this floor. They’re fakes. There’s no way my father would want video evidence of some of the people that come and go from within these walls.

I pause for a moment, listening hard, then relax when I hear nothing. There are no lights on – I’m alone.

I don’t want to waste any time here though, I know it’s three in the morning, but Jacob is a wanker – it wouldn’t surprise me if his shit-scared assistant comes in before the sun rises to get better prepared for her day of torture.

I skirt down the long hallway until I reach the door of his office. Right next to the door that once housed the desk I myself sat behind.

It’s closed, but not locked. My lucky day.

I head straight for the huge filing cabinet that sits in the corner, but my luck is tapped out, because that is locked.

I move to the desk, sitting in his ridiculously huge, wanky chair while I rummage through stacks and stacks of documents and files.

It’s all mundane, boring, by-the-book bullshit.

Jacob isn’t stupid. I know he’s unlikely to leave anything incriminating just lying around for anyone to stumble across.

I wiggle the mouse to his computer and the screen flickers to life.

It’s password protected, but I looked over Jacob’s shoulder hundreds of times when we worked together, and I doubt he’s bothered to change it since.

I type in our mother’s maiden name and grin to myself when it works like a charm.

I set to work, exploring every folder I can find. He’s got several that have individual passwords, but my attempts at unlocking those fail, and I’m fairly confident those are the ones holding the good stuff.

I growl in frustration at another failed guess.

I’m wasting my time with this computer. I’m just about to log off when the banking app catches my eye. I wouldn’t have a shot in hell at gaining access to the company’s accounts, those codes change every few hours, and Jacob and Conrad keep the tokens on themselves at all times, but I’d be willing to bet my left nut that I could get into Jacob’s personal account.

As of five years ago, he still used the same account we both had set up as teenagers. I know the number because other than the last digit, our account numbers were identical. I remember how ‘cute’ the lady at the bank thought she was for making matching accounts for the identical twins.

I could kiss her now though. I type in the number and guess the correct password on my third and final attempt.

I click on his chequing account and start scrolling through pages and pages of transactions.

I’m not finding anything except coffees and expensive suits until a payment for ten thousand dollars catches my eye.

There’s no reference, no name, no nothing.

I keep scrolling, looking out for anything similar, and sure enough, I find another payment for the same amount. Again, no details. But interestingly, it’s exactly one month prior to the first payment I saw.

I skip back another month, and then another and another, finding the same thing over and over again.

I don’t know who this payment is going to, but it’s every single month for as far back as I can see. Ten thousand each time.

Ten thousand a month is nothing in the scheme of Jacob’s finances, but it’s still a red flag as far as I’m concerned. It’s not as though he’d ever have anything to pay off… he doesn’t donate to charity… he has no debt.

I scrawl a few dates down on a scrap of paper and close the app and then the computer.

I’d kill to gain access to the filing cabinet, but I know I’ll never get into that fortress without the key… or causing substantial, and more importantly, noticeable damage, so I’m just going to have to accept defeat on that one.

I glance at my watch, it’s just after 4am, I figure I have time to do one last check of the room before making my escape.

I head for the bookshelf. I remember when Jacob was just a kid, he’d always hide his cash inside books.

We even went as far as hollowing out the inside of a book once. I remember our father absolutely flipping a lid when he saw us tossing out the mangled pages of one of his first edition hard backs.

I chuckle to myself at the memory. It feels like a lifetime ago that it was me and Jake against the world.

I rifle through all the books, sliding them out and shaking them by the spines to check if anything is trapped within the pages.

I’ve checked about a dozen books when I finally find something.

A black and gold business card with ‘Elite Services’ printed on one side in shiny, fancy lettering, and the name ‘Candy’ printed on the other side.

I roll my eyes as I turn it over in my hands a few times.

I’d be willing to bet a million dollars that this is the card for a hooker. No one who calls themselves ‘Candy’ is doing anything other than taking their clothes off or having sex for money.

I slide it back into the book and check the remaining few that are left on the shelf, but that’s all I find.

I’m beyond frustrated. I’ve found nothing of any substance whatsoever.

I’m going to have to try a different approach with this. I need someone on the inside.

I slip out of Jacob’s office, my mind racing as I hatch a new plan.