My cheeks feel like they’re on fire. “Mom?—”
“It’s not Harper’s body.” Luke leans forward with his hands clasped between his knees. “It’s a photoshop job. We never tried to figure out where the original photo came from.”
He glances my way. I shrug. I don’t know where the photo is from. The only thing I know is it isn’t my body.
“Fine.” Mom sits back with her legs crossed and looks at me over her folded hands. Oh, fuck, she’s going to use that silence to get me to spill everything. What don’t I want her to know? And what do I want her to know?
“You know what my dad does, correct?” Luke asks.
Mom’s gaze shifts to Luke. “I know William Foster runs a very successful business and sits on the Board of Directors for the hospital. My husband used to do contract work for them.”
She glances at me to see if I’m surprised. We already knew that my dad worked for Luke’s. When I don’t react like this is new information, she releases a breath.
“My dad seems to think your husband took something of my dad’s before he left. Something that he left behind here. It’s some sort of paperwork and file.” Luke watches her closely.
“We have reason to believe that whatever it is, it affects my father, Luke’s, and Caden’s.” Nico’s voice fills the room. “What we don’t know is what it is. Only that Luke’s father wants it back and wants Luke to get it.”
Mom drops her hands to her lap. She’s definitely thinking about it.
“At the time your husband went missing, our fathers were working together.” Caden leans into the screen. “After your husband left, it took a while, but Nico’s family moved away and the partnership between my father and Luke’s dissolved.”
Mom sits up straight. “Sean wasn’t upfront with the work he did for your father. Some of it was network security, but some of it wasn’t. He did what he was asked and didn’t talk about it.”
I sit up and reach for Luke’s hand. He weaves our fingers together. It draws my mom’s attention and her eyes soften.
“Why are you looking for thisevidence? Your father has had years to find it.”
Luke blows out a breath and squeezes my hand. “We’re not sure why now. He implied that because I had access now that I’m dating Harper, I could more easily locate it. But it doesn’t make sense either. He’s had years to comb this house and the property.”
Nico clears his throat. “My dad thought it had already been taken care of when I overheard him talking with Luke’s father on the phone. Maybe something changed and they found out he took the evidence with him. Maybe it was supposed to be destroyed.”
Mom purses her lips as she thinks.
“I agreed to look for my father to get out of interning at his business and to keep my father away from Harper.” Luke glances at me before meeting my mom’s eyes. “My father’s business isn’t all clean. I’ve avoided it for years, but he keeps pushing. He wants me to go to Harvard and get a business degree to take over for him. I don’t know what the other side of his business does, and I don’t want to be part of it.”
Mom nods as if coming to a decision. “There’s an old laptop Sean had. I found it broken when he left. I thought aboutdonating it or recycling it a million times over the years. But I was worried there may be pictures on it. Pictures I want to keep.”
Her gaze takes on a far off look.
“If it’s okay, I can look it over.” Jack leans back in his chair. “If anything is salvageable, I should be able to get to it.”
Mom’s attention shifts to the screen. “It’s not here, which may be why William hasn’t found it. I don’t know if that will have what he’s looking for, but it’s a good start.”
“Is there anything else Dad left behind?” I don’t want to push, but now seems like the time to ask. “Papers that we can go through?”
As if sensing I’m asking for him, Mom’s eyes narrow on Luke. “Are you just going to hand this over to your father?”
“It depends.” Luke rubs my hand between his, almost absent-mindedly. “Our plan is to go to college. All of us together. My father is only willing to pay for Harvard and only if I get a business degree. The strings attached to that money are not something I want.”
“Okay.” Mom still sounds skeptical.
“I need something to make my father back off or put him away for good.” Luke’s eyes hold my mom’s like he’s trying to figure out where her head is at. Will she want him to use the information to put away their fathers? Or let him use it as blackmail to own his future?
Mom puts her hands on her knees and meets my eyes. “Harper, may I speak to you? Alone.”
Rising, I release Luke’s hand, following my mom back into the small den. She closes the door and takes a breath.
“Their fathers are dangerous men, Harper. They won’t hesitate to make life uncomfortable for you if they think you’re distracting their boys from their goals. Right now, it’s probably fine. You’re young.” Mom leans against the bookcase. “You’re inhigh school, so they won’t think anything of them dating you. But if it goes further...”
