of the year.”
“You want to find out what happened to Teagan and Sawyer. Where will you start?” Ryder asked.
“Getting in touch with their family was a dead end. I have to find out more about them another way. Why were they kidnapped out of everyone? Why did Sawyer keep his mouth shut after his girlfriend was snatched? Who drove him off in that van? Who did Leighton call that night?”
“I’ve started looking into all of that,” said Maverick.
“You can’t,” Val cried. “It’s too dangerous.”
“Mommy?” Adam reached for her. “What’s wrong?”
She wiped away her frown. “Nothing’s wrong, baby.” She put him on her lap, kissing him all over until he giggled. “We’ll talk about this later,” she said to Maverick.
Chef arrived with our lamb chops like he planned his entrance. A heavy atmosphere hung over us as we ate. For Adam and Caroline, we stuck to small talk, rattling on about our day.
“My father is planning another visit,” said Ezra. “He’s bringing his family and mentioned hitting the water park while they’re here. I was thinking of stealing Adam that weekend.”
Val chuckled. “No stealing necessary. We can make it a family trip. I’d love to spend time with your dad.”
After dinner, Val handed Adam to Ryder. He carried him up to get ready for bed while the rest of us took dessert into the living room.
Valentina started in before our butts hit the chair. “Maverick, what if they find out what you’re doing?”
“I played it smarter this time.” Maverick squeezed his bulk into the armchair, kicking his legs up on the footrest. “Dad and I coded an algorithm that— I’ll get into the tech stuff later. The point is only the NSA could detect me in their computers. I’m already in Aiden’s. Haven’t gone through all of the files yet, but I started with his email. There were a lot of messages going back and forth between him and Leighton Lewis.”
Val put down her cake. “Recent ones?”
He shook his head. “None dated after her supposed death. If she is alive, she’s being more careful than that. From the little I read, they mostly speak about the brothers and sisters, and who their favorites are. Stuff like ‘Patrick aced the test’ and ‘Zaya’s the fastest runner.’ I’ve only read a few, but so far there’s nothing incriminating.”
“I need to read those,” Val said.
“Does that mean you don’t want me to stop?”
“That means I want you to be careful,” she retorted. “But if you are going to do this, I need to know what you find out. Buried somewhere in those emails could be the truth about what happened to Teagan and Sawyer.”
“I saw it with my own eyes. Chased that van down the street, and still I can’t comprehend what’s going on in those houses,” said Ezra.
“I will figure it out and find them if I still can,” Val said. “President Valentina is ending this shit.”
Chapter Six
President Valentina is having more trouble than she wants to admit.
In the two weeks since I was elected, I got no closer to uncovering Zeta Rho Sigma’s secrets. Maverick combed through every email between Aiden and Leighton—on top of every other email he sent or received. The two kept it strictly house business, and when Aiden met with me, he did the same. The week before, we gathered in the Sally dining room with Blair and his vice president planning the Sam back-to-school party without a problem.
Maverick also dug up the emails mentioning Sawyer and Teagan. It was too much to ask that they’d lay out the plans for their kidnapping. All those two had to say about them were how well they were doing keeping up with their requirements on top of school.
Maverick intended to dig deeper but this time he was going slow. Covering his tracks. He went for the subtle approach while I played to my strengths.
“Are you going to do the initiation to these poor guys?”
Aiden and I stood on the porch. Juliet and the others respected my request for distance and posted up on the other side of the pool where they could keep me in sight.
There wasn’t much for them to observe. The two of us stood two feet apart, overseeing the potential Sams putting out the tiki lights for the parties.
Eager to please and puffed up to impress, I thought. They have no idea what they’re in for.
“All brothers must prove their loyalty.”
“Why, Aiden? What do you get out of guys side-eyeing you when you come in the room?