“So, does the world know about the demise of Senator Richard Pierce yet?” I ask, taking a bite of my pizza. The only thing I feel in the bond from Hayden is a misplaced pinch of guilt. Without looking at him, I send a wave of reassurance.
Declan sighs from his armchair. “No. Which is…strange. It should have been front page news, considering the fact a government official died in a damn fire in a rich-as-hell neighborhood, but there hasn’t been a word anywhere. Not online, not on the TV…”
Sam frowns. “Do you think…is it possible that Xavier is covering it up?”
“Why would he?” Kole tilts his head, taking a bite of his own pizza. “A senator murdered in his home by a raving omega lunatic and her equally unhinged mates seems like a good opportunity to press the narrative that alphas and omegas are dangerous.”
“He must need him alive,” I muse, picking a piece of pepperoni off my pizza and handing it to Turnip. She takes it, sitting on my shoulder happily as she nibbles on it. “Or, at least for the world to think he is. He must have somethin’ up his sleeve. I wouldn’t put it past him to use the beloved Senator to plant the seed in the minds of the people—that this drug…’medication’ is something that’s needed. All it takes is one well-timed social media post.”
Turnip squeaks at me, and I roll my eyes, handing her another piece of pepperoni. “You need to be patient.” She glares at me, chittering defiantly. “Iknowthat you wouldn’t need my pepperoni if you had your own slice of pizza, but you also don’t need a whole slice of pizza.”
Do I think Turnip can actually speak to me? No, but why would I do us both the disservice of pretending I don’t know exactly what she’s saying?
Ozzy stares at me like I have a second head as he watches Turnip on my shoulder, and I suppress my grin.
“We could screw with his plans,” West offers, glancing at Declan. “You have a plant in the FBI, right? Can’t we just…anonymously hint that maybe something happened to the senator and they can check on it?”
“Before we do anything like that, we need to sort something else out first.” Dec looks around the room. “Regarding our…data leak.”
“We haven’t dealt with the rat yet?” I huff. Turnip lets out a defiant squeak on my shoulder, and I look over at her in exasperation. “Turnip, Itoldyou. It’sjust a phrase.” She snatches a piece of pepperoni from my plate and scurries off my shoulder and onto…Sam’s.
Wellthen.
Sam’s brows shoot up but he tries to hide his smile as he scratches behind her ears.
“Wright and I came up with a plan, but we need you to be on board,” Declan says slowly, looking around the room.
“Why?” Sam asks suspiciously. “Will it put her in danger?”
“No…It just…kind of uses you as bait—but not in a way that puts you at risk. It has to do with your plan with the Vasiliev brothers.”
“We don’t have a plan with them yet.” I frown.
“Right, but the rat doesn’t know that.” Declan grins. “We’ve narrowed down our suspect pool to anyone who’s accessed our safehouse locations in the database in the last month. That gives us five men. We’re going to give a fake meeting location to each of them, and see which location makes it to the ears of the senator.”
“Okay…but he’s dead, remember?” Hayden speaks up next to me. “The informant won’t be able to reach him.”
Declan nods once. “Right, but in this case, the world not knowing about the senator actually plays into our favor, because we can assume that if the world doesn’t know…”
“Neither does the leak,” Sam finishes for him.
“Exactly.” Declan leans back into the couch. “Aidan finally cracked the code on all of the senator’s communications. However the rat was sending him information, we’ll find out about it.”
“So…” I take another bite of pizza, feeling some relief at the fact there’s the beginning of a plan in place. “We lay our rat trap,” Turnip squeaks, I roll my eyes, “and once we take care of that, we let the world know that Senator Pierce has met a terrible fate.”
“Risky, considering you’re the ones that killed him.” Sam’s dad speaks up for the first time since we sat down, and we all turn to him with apprehension. “I just mean…” he shifts uncomfortably under the attention. “Are you sure you want to bring light to the fact that he’s now…deceased? Couldn’t that implicate you five?”
“You make a fair point,” I concede. “But, a few things come into play here. The first of which bein’ that as far as the public is concerned, we’re all still residents at Thornfield and it would have been impossible for us to be there. Second is the fact that we were taken into Senator Pierce’s home in secret. Nobody saw us comin’ or goin’, and we made sure to clear away any physical evidence before settin’ the place on fire. There’ll be no way to place us at Pierce’s home.” Though, I do wonder what happened to that scientist we left downstairs.
“And lastly,” Dec cuts in, “when we reveal he’s dead, it will have to come out that Xavier was the one covering it up, which will put some of the suspicion on him.”
“What about Adela?” Helaena looks worried as she leans forward. “She’s the one who found you after, right? What ifthis…Xavier tries to pin it on her somehow? Put her back into Thornfield?”
My lips tighten into a line. I hadn’t thought about that. West saves me from an internal spiral, though. “He can’t.” He shakes his head. “There’s no way anyone would think that a pregnant teenager could take out one grown man, let alone four if they find the three bodies downstairs. Besides, Xavier cares too much about image. He’ll be forced to keep her safe if only for the sake of appearances.”
“I worry about her,” Helaena frowns. “All by herself with that awful man…”
“We’re goin’ back for her once this is all over.” I give her a reassuring smile. “Plus, Vander…he won’t let anythin’ happen to her. He’s not on our side, but he’ll protect Adela, I can tell.”
