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She continues, “They’re the controlling interest of The Association. Few people know that because they keep a low profile.”
Something in her words gives me pause, and I swivel toward her. “But how do you know this?Whoare you?”
Bree’s eyes dip down, her face crumbling in an expression I know as shame.
“My real name is Gabriella Caruso,” she says, her voice so soft, I can barely hear her.
“You’re part of The Association?” My feet inch back, and I shake my head.
No way. She can’t be—I’ve been calling a monster a friend?
I remember the headlines—the mysterious organization rumored to infiltrate governments and companies to control the world. I remember how Taylor, one of my strongest, no-nonsense friends, broke down when she told us how she was brutalized at an initiation ceremony.
Apparently, the price of entry to this organization is to commit a felony of their choice. Leverage for blackmail. No one gets out once they’re in.
Then there was Ethan, Alexis, and others who were impacted by these assholes.
I shake my head and stare at the quiet girl. She’s part of them? The cold-blooded bastards?
“I know. I deserve to die just because I’m associated with them. But I swear, I didn’t know until recently. My family kept me from it. I’m only a second cousin, a distant relative. I swear I never knew.”
“B-But why would they be after you if you don’t know everything?”
“I’m a hacker. When I was poking around my family’s servers, I stumbled upon a firewall I wasn’t supposed to spot. I started digging, making connections. Then I realized there were files, documents, orgcharts I didn’t have access to. But Elias must have flagged something because he contacted me out of the blue and asked me to help him.”
“And you said yes.”
I knock my head on the back of the wall, finally understanding the picture I wasn’t seeing before. I had heard from my friends that Elias has a vendetta against The Association, but no one knows why.
He must need something from Bree.
But I still have unanswered questions.
Why is Rex involved? Why is Elias so interested in this personally? Why didn’t they pick a middle of the night, disappearing people method to get Bree to safety?
Being with Rex has to be high profile and risky.
Bree nods. “The more I learned from Elias about what my family did to innocent people like the Andersons, the more I couldn’t let this fly. I had to do something. So I said I’d help him. And it turned out only I could help him because of my blood.”
“What? What’s so special about your blood?”
“I have an ultra-rare HLA type. Apparently, we’re one of the few families to still have this in our DNA. Because of this, The Association hid a lot of their info on drives with a biometric lock that scans for this. But the antigen disintegrates upon death.”
HLA, human leukocyte antigen, part of the immune system’s fingerprint that is unique to individuals but is also heritable. It’s already used in medical authentication and tissue matching for organ donations. Rare haplotypes, if I recall correctly, are nearly impossible to fake or replicate.
“You’re a walking key,” I exhale.
Oh shit. This is why she’s so valuable. This is why Elias is risking it all by being on this cruise, by escorting her in person. “But won’t your family suspect you? Hanging out with Rex on this cruise?”
She shakes her head. “The rich mingling with the rich isn’t strange. And it’s Rex. Everyone knows he’s a party animal. No one would suspecthim. I’m safe by association. At least, I thought I was. My hacker name is an alias, but I guess they must’ve figured it out.”
And Rex, I don’t know his reasons for doing this, but the man has been on the edge for a long time, tempting fate, tempting death. He blames himself for his mom’s death, for the sadness his family endured for years. He thinks he has nothing to offer other than fake happiness and charm. Maybe this is his way of giving back to the world by doing something meaningful with his life.
The man has a death wish.
I’m rocked by a sudden burst of anger. I clench the crowbar so tightly my arms shake.
He knows I care about him, that I love him. I’ve told him to take care of himself, and he’s promised me. I’ve tried knocking some sense into him. That he shouldn’t let the past haunt his present, and what happened to his mom was a tragedy nobody wanted.
