Penny winces. I barely hold in my gasp.
“I’ve decided it’s time she got to know her other family.”
Luke doesn’t react. My eyes widen, but I try desperately not to show much reaction. His half-sister? How long has she known? Why didn’t she say anything? Is this what she was trying to tell Luke? Why not just say it in front of me?
“I’ve put her in the room next to yours,” William continues and begins to cut his steak. “I plan to stay in town until I’m sure her transition into the family is complete.”
My stomach twists and my alarm must show in my eyes when I look at Penny. Does she know what she’s getting into here?
“I’ll make sure to help her adapt.” Luke doesn’t look at Penny. His gaze remains on William. “I know how hard it is to be part of this family.”
“That’s a good idea.” William lifts his wine glass and smiles cruelly. “Wouldn’t want her to get out of hand and need to be disciplined?”
My heart races and anger burns inside me. He’s threatening Penny. The bruises on Luke would probably destroy someone as small as Penny. But maybe he wouldn’t be as hard on his daughter if she didn’t fight back.
“I’m sure Miss Wright knows how to behave.” Luke glances her way briefly.
She doesn’t say a thing. She’s pale as a ghost as she pushes her food around her plate. I force myself to take another bite and almost choke on it when I lift my gaze to find William’s cold hazel eyes on me.
“Tell me, Miss Davidson, now that you and my son are a couple—” He sneers at the word. “What exactly are your plans for your future?”
I finish chewing my steak before swallowing it and bringing my napkin to my lips, buying myself some time. Maybe I should have expected this question, but right now, I’m still reeling from Penny being here. If he did it to throw us off balance, it worked.
“I’d like to go to college and build a career for myself.” I don’t let my gaze drop from his even as sweat rolls down my back. Luke’s hand touches my thigh, giving me strength even though he doesn’t look at me.
William nods and puts a slice of meat in his mouth, chewing it slowly. “As you know, Luke plans to go to Harvard and then join the family business.”
Not in a million years. But I smile like this is exactly what Luke plans to do.
“Of course. I’ve also applied to Harvard and some of the surrounding schools. So I can stay near him.” As soon as the words are out of my mouth, I regret them. Before I told him I would go where I want. Now suddenly I’m following Luke. Is that too much? “But I’ll still go to the best school I can afford.”
“If you get into Harvard, you should go.” William leans back and looks at us over the rim of his wine glass. “Follow your dreams. Maybe if you two stay together, you can both work for my company.”
He reaches over and touches Penny’s hair. She flinches, but tries to hold herself still.
“Like my daughter. I expect her to do well. I might have to grease some palms to get her into Harvard, but they’ll know she’s legacy. She’s going to take the internship over winter break.” His gaze focuses on Luke’s. “She knows an opportunity when she sees one.”
“I’m sure she’ll learn plenty by working under you.” Luke smiles and holds up his glass of water. “Welcome to the family, sister.”
Fuck, I wouldn’t want to be at their holiday dinners. I hope Jack is having more luck than we are. I don’t want to find out what William would do if Jack and Nico get caught.
CHAPTER 33
The Fallout
Jack
I can’t get in from Luke’s room. Fuck.
I wrap up the session on Luke’s computer and then make my way to the door. Tapping twice, I wait. Nico taps back once.
When I step out into the hallway, I gesture in the direction of William’s office. This is where things get tricky. There’s more risk of getting caught doing it this way. There’s no way a guy as paranoid as William Foster doesn’t have hidden cameras.
Hopefully, he’s cocky enough to connect them to his laptop and I can bring them all down for a few minutes and splice in some looped tape. It’ll take precious time, but I love a challenge. Nico leads the way through the house.
There are extra people helping with dinner and potentially other employees around, so we keep to the walls and move quietly. We duck into William’s office and shut the door, leaving the lights off.
Nico does a quick sweep with the cam/bug finder. He nods to a corner. I open the laptop and get to work. We don’t have a lot of time, but fortunately William is a creature of habit and his passwords take on a certain style I figured out long ago.
