Queen of Quarantine (Brutal Boys of Everlake Prep #4) - Caroline Peckham Page 0,94

over, one which I would have constructed from scratch and built to our perfect specifications once I'd settled on the ideal location for it.

But for now, my focus was entirely on solving some of our problems. The most pressing being the box of stolen vaccinations we now needed to find a new home for. Kyan had plans to give one to Niall and pass on another for his old housekeeper but aside from that, none of us cared about anyone else enough to want them to have one. And the most pressing use for the vaccines was to give them to a virologist who was capable of using them to create the vaccines the world was in need of.

The only problem with that was that it was damn hard to find a candidate who we deemed worthy of the task. They needed to be a leader in their field. They also needed to have a strong moral compass and no ties to anyone connected to my father. The issue was that most pharmaceutical companies were very much run for profit, the owners of them cashing in on medications that desperate people needed while charging exorbitant prices for them. And while I was all in favour of turning a profit, we were in agreement that we wanted someone who couldn't be bought and who would be fair in the distribution of this life saving drug. After all, if the mega rich were the first to claim it and profit from it then we were only making my father's plans come to fruition. And I refused to line the palms of any more greasy businessmen with the profits of this atrocity. Not to mention the fact that Tatum would have had my balls for it if I tried.

"Dr Valerie De La Cost," I announced as I joined the others for breakfast, opening up my laptop and showing them the online profile for the woman in question.

She was a pretty woman in her late fifties, with dark skin and an intelligent glint in her eyes, posed in the cliched white lab coat for the profile picture and yet still not looking like a cardboard cut out of every other doctor in her field.

"She's the one?" Tatum asked with interest.

"Yes. She's a leader in her profession and she has spent her career dedicating her time to the kinds of drugs which make a true difference to the most amount of people, not just the ones guaranteed to turn a profit. She lives modestly, donating more than half of her income to foundations and projects around the globe and has worked to secure deals with many large companies, getting them to sponsor the production of her drugs for distribution in impoverished countries where the population needs them most. I cannot find so much as a hint of a bribe, foul doing or even a suspicious business partner. She looks squeaky clean and no matter how deep I dig, I can't find any dirt. She even refused a large raise in her pay when a competing company tried to poach her, claiming they didn't adhere to her moral code and I believe that was the truth."

"Okay then," Blake said around a mouthful of toast. "So where do we find her?"

"Swallow before you speak, you heathen," I muttered, taking a moment to lament my eggs and avocado as Tatum passed me some toast too. "And she has an office in Cypress City about four hours north of here and her home is close by."

"Alright then. Let's go," Tatum suggested brightly and I gave her a soft smile, enjoying the way she always managed to stay so positive, like she couldn't imagine any way that this might go wrong. I wished I had her faith, but I couldn’t help but believe that we were living on borrowed time. That my father was only one step behind us and our temporary peace was just waiting to be destroyed.

"We can eat first," I assured her, forcing myself to lift the toast to my mouth in my hand like some classless cretin and eating it as fast as I could just to get it over with.

Kyan made no attempt to hide his laughter at my expense, passing me an espresso with his wrist positioned to show off that ugly fucking squid tattoo as well. I was pretty sure he'd been trying to goad me into losing my shit ever since the spanking-turned-fuck-fest that had taken place the other day, but I