“It was yournephewwho started it all,” Griffin insisted.
Again, Chase snickered. “Yes, finally Richard proved useful.” He drained his drink and leaned over to place the empty glass in a recessed cupholder built into the polished wood interior. “Had I been aware of your capabilities at that time, I likelywouldhave engineered Brady’s death. The death of one of you, anyhow.”
I shouldn’t have been surprised, and yet I flinched at the boldness of his admission. On either side of me, Griffin and Hunt tensed, their thighs rigid against mine.
Chase tapped his fingers on his knee. “But no, I didn’t know. Not then. I’d been searching for you since you were first taken from me, but my former employees proved surprisingly adept at concealing you from me. It was only after Brady’s death that I knew where to find you.”
“So you couldkillthe rest of us,” Brady snarled.
Chase merely met his accusatory glare without reaction. “As I told you, I’m the devil you know. Isn’t this better than the endless lies?”
“That remains to be seen,” I muttered bitterly.
A part of me wanted to grab my friends and jump from this car while it was still rolling. Were we being absolute morons right now? Were we truly better off playing along?
I had no fucking clue, and I absolutely hated that. But attempting to resist, only to beforcedto cooperate by this man with unlimited resources, didn’t seem any better.
“Kitty fucking Blanche led you right to us, didn’t she?” Griffin asked, his question sharp as a blade.
“She’s proven useful, yes.”
“I’ll just bet she has,” Brady added, venom dripping from every word. “Did you spy on us with a drone?”
Chase looked at us, his expression open, his eyes unshuttered, as if he had not a fucking thing to hide. That was ayes, then. “I reward my people well for their loyalty. There are few better uses for my wealth.”
“You can’t buy us,” Hunt said.
Fact.
“Maybe not. But I can prove to you that you’re better off with me than with thieves and liars.”
“At the school,” Layla said.
“For now, yes.”
“And where the fuck is it? How’ve you been preparing for this entrapment of all of us?”
“Not entrapment. Enticement, definitely.”
I huffed but didn’t bother arguing with the man’s twisted morals.
“When I finally found Brady, and therefore all of you, my immediate priority was to break ground on the facility where you’d all train. Ridgemore had plenty of suitable properties, and I wanted you to be comfortable.”
I snorted as Layla said, “You really expect us to believe our comfort played any part in your schemes?”
“No, I suppose I don’t.”
Hunt leaned forward. His still-healing wounds must have pulled along his torso because he winced and, more slowly, sat back again. “You wanted us out of that private medical facility or whatever it was.”
Chase waited, his gaze held on Hunt.
“You thought our parents, or whoever they really are, would come for us, and that place wasn’t fortified. But then you’ve apparently built an entire school for us and those like us within Ridgemore town limits. Makes no sense unless … unless youwantour parents, whatever, to come for us now.”
Chase grinned, and the gesture was so disarming that I found myself leaning into Griffin’s side. Instantly, he wrapped an arm around my shoulders and pulled me closer. I settled into his warmth.
“Good,” Chase said as the limo rolled past the turn that led to the Fischer House. Automatically, my eyes went to Brady, who shuddered. Layla’s eyes grew haunted.
“I see you’re as smart as I’d hoped,” Chase went on. “Good. That will make everything easier. The people who deceived you into believing they’re your parents—that’s getting annoying fast. They’re like ‘The Artist Formerly Known As Prince.’” He chuckled at his own joke. No one else did.
