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There was silence for a heartbeat or two. “What time is it?” he asked.
“It's time to get back to work.”
* * *
I had Dean, Asher, Brenna, Finn, and Vincent meet me in my bedroom in the main house. Dean, Asher, and Brenna arrived first because they lived in the guest house. Finn and Vincent had to travel from their homes. Dean and Asher had their own homes, too, but ever since Alex Roth had snuck into the house, they’d pretty much moved in to help keep me safe. At first, everyone was surprised where I had chosen to meet, and I caught each of them glancing around.
Brenna was the quickest to get over the shock. “So who are we killing today, cousin?”
Dean turned his grumpy attention on her. “Why do you think we’re killing someone?”
Brenna looked at me with a smirk. “Why else would she call all of us here?”
I was standing in front of the fireplace, the same place I had stood as I’d warned Alex Roth what would happen if he killed me. Only he hadn’t killed me, and I’d still followed through with my threat. Brenna, Vincent, and my goons were either standing around or sitting on the couch and chair in the small seating area in front of me.
“She wants to attend the family meeting today,” Asher said. “Grounds security was informed of it a few days ago.”
“How’d you find out?” Brenna asked.
“To keep Maura safe, I make it a point to always be aware of what is happening in this very large house at all times. If there ends up being anything worth mentioning, I inform Maura,” Asher replied.
Today’s family meeting was only part of what I’d called them here for. “I’m pretty sure I know who sent the Aryans after me.”
Silence fell upon the room for a few heartbeats.
“Who do you think it is?” Vincent, the nineteen-year-old hacker genius, asked. He had dyed his hair lime green since I’d last seen him, which had been before I’d been taken. I hadn’t seen Finn since then, either. Brenna had told me they had tried visiting the day after I had returned to Quinn Manor, but I had been sleeping. I’d called them the next day to tell them that I’d been alright and to enjoy their time home. After being away for so long, I’d known Finn was eager to be with his son, and Vincent was a major introvert.
I met Brenna’s Quinn green eyes. After a moment of staring at each other, I saw the flicker of understanding in them. “It’s Dylan, isn’t it?” she asked.
I caught the way Dean and Asher looked at each other with worry. They both knew what it meant for me if Dylan had betrayed the family again.
“That makes sense,” Finn said.
“How sure are you?” Dean asked me, his voice sharp with agitation.
Having heard it, too, everyone’s heads turned toward him.
Brenna looked from Dean to me. “What’s going on?”
Dean didn’t answer. He expected me to.
“In order to spare Dylan from being executed along with your father, I took responsibility for him,” I said.
Finn let out a curse and Brenna’s face went a little pale.
“What does that mean?” Vincent asked.
Dean leaned forward on the couch and set his elbows on his knees before he ran his hands down his face. “Stefan threatened to kill her if Dylan destroys the family.”
“What?!” Brenna blurted, then shook her head quickly. “He wouldn’t do that.”
“He hasn’t destroyed the family, but his mistakes are my mistakes, and I will have to answer for them if we don’t handle this discreetly,” I said calmly. I went on to tell them the conversation I’d overheard Buck and his fellow Aryan having when I’d been captured.
“Other than Stefan, Dylan is the only other male with the Quinn last name here in New Haven.” Brenna said what I had already deduced. “We have distant cousins who have the surname Quinn, but they’re all in Boston.”
“Samuel was the one who oversaw the new security systems that were put into the manor, his house, and many other properties that belong to the family. It’s how we found out where he was storing the money he’d been stealing,” Vincent said. “I wouldn’t doubt that the contractor who installed all of the security systems created plans or blueprints of where everything, such as the cameras, wiring, and the system’s main hub, would be placed in the house. There’s a possibility that Samuel had a copy of those plans and Dylan had access to them.”
“That could explain how Alex Roth got into this room without being seen,” Asher said.
