AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Maybe some people who use the app aren’t members of POP?” I suggest.
“That’s a good possibility,” Landon murmurs as he flips to another page. His face has steadily drained of color, until it’s almost stark white, his silver eyes even more pronounced. “My god. There are judges, senators, governors, ambassadors, even foreign rulers on this list.”
“Which makes me believe that Reece only listed the big players,” Dom says. “There are numerous names that we know to be members of POP who aren’t on the list.”
“This is a good starting point.” Landon closes the folder with a heavy sigh, as if he aged fifty years in the single minute he pored over the words. I imagine knowing our country’s most trusted officials are murderous, depraved assholes would destroy any person, even one as unflappable as Landon. “Did you find anything else?”
“Nothing that we haven’t already discovered on our own,” Dom says. Then he pauses, biting his lip as he stares at Landon indecisively.
Landon tenses, his shoulders bunching until they reach his shoulders. “What?”
“We also found a key, but we have no idea what it opens.”
“A key,” Landon repeats, his voice a strange mixture of incredulous and weary. He huffs out a dry laugh. “Goddamn. Reece can’t make it easy for us, can he?”
“There’s one more thing.” Dom looks as if he’s swallowed a dozen hot coals. I realize, then, that this is the reason he’s so nervous. Not the key. Whatever he has to say is going to infuriate Landon.
And quite possibly the others, if their confused expressions are anything to go by.
“We didn’t find anything else,” Beckett says to Dom, confused.
Dom scrubs his hands across his denim-clad thighs and takes a deep breath. “While you guys were gone, my bio dad called. He wants me to come over for dinner tomorrow night.”
Landon still appears befuddled. “Your bastard of a father always insists on these so-called family dinners. Is this about what happened last time you were there? When he offhandedly mentioned POP to you?”
The last time Dom and I visited Harvey’s house, Dom’s biological father pulled him aside to mention a secret organization that could grant him power—so long as Dom “took out the trash,” which we discovered meant Ryker, who lived on the poor side of town. Dom had faked enthusiasm, if only to gather more information from his father. At first, we feared that Harvey discovered we stole his phone and hacked into it, especially after The Divine One found us by tracking it.
But it appears as if The Divine One hadn’t told Harvey Rollins that particular secret. I have no idea why.
“It’s not just me he wants to see tomorrow,” Dom continues, and his gaze slides toward me for only a fraction of a second.
And I know—even before he finishes speaking—exactly why he was so hesitant to bring this up with the others.
“Dom…” Landon’s voice is a warning rumble, and his eyes have narrowed into slits.
“He wants me to bring Ellie,” Dom rushes out, those words leaving him on a single exhale of air. “And I’m afraid of what he might do to her if I refuse.”
“He can’t do shit!” Zane explodes, jumping to his feet and forming tight fists with his hands.
“She’s not going there. No bloody way!” Beckett snaps.
But Dominic is looking directly at me. And, surprisingly enough, so is Landon. Both wear considering looks.
“We need to get more information out of my fucking father.” I don’t know if Dom is speaking to me or the others, but his green gaze never leaves my face. “He doesn’t suspect a thing. He believes me to be the prodigal son finally coming around to his ideals and Ellie to be the perfect, rich girlfriend.”
“You have got to be fucking joking!” Zane bellows.
“Landon, talk some sense into that wankstain,” Beckett adds.
But Landon is still staring at me with that contemplative look.
“You think you can do this, even knowing what we know now?” Landon asks me, and my mind travels to the app and all of the fucked-up things we found on it. To know that Harvey’s a part of this…
I swallow and nod. “Yes. Dom’s right. We need to do this, and it’s better if I go in with Dominic than having him go alone. We’re a team.”
“For fuck’s sake!” Beckett, surprisingly, is the one who storms out of the room, slamming the door to his bedroom behind him. I wince at the noise.
Zane has gone very, very still beside me. I’m not even sure he’s breathing. He’s a statue of a man—one of those works of arts abandoned in a museum, collecting dust and cobwebs. His breaths saw in and out, in and out.
