I typed in a couple of password guesses on his computer. Ava. Van Halen. James Bond.

None of them worked.

My phone beeped in my back pocket. I took it out and sat back in the chair. Text from Brock.

Brock: Since you’re ignoring me I know it’s stupid to ask but I just wanted to see if you were okay today. I miss you. A lot. I wish you would just pick up the phone and talk to me. I promise I’ll be home later.

Andi: What would we have to talk about? Shutting off my internet and not allowing me to watch the news all week?

Brock: Baby, I’m just trying to take care of some things. And there are a few things that I don’t think you would like to see.

Andi: Wouldn’t like to see or can’t see?

Brock: Can I call?

Andi: If you want to be ignored go ahead.

Brock: I’ll explain everything when I get home. I’m just dealing with a bunch of stuff right now at work and there were some things that happened that I wanted to be able to tell you in person.

Andi: You should probably start telling me now because I’m done with this.

There was a long pause where he didn’t respond.

I tried my next two guesses on his computer but they didn’t work. Trying to think like Brock and guess his passwords was a fool’s errand but something came to mind. Liv had said that Brock was the only one to slay my monsters. Andromeda’s hero in legend was Perseus. I typed it in and the screen came up.

So, he thought he was my hero?

I heard my phone beep again but I didn’t pick it up. I went straight to a news site but didn’t see much at first. There had been a huge problem on a commuter train in the northeast and most of the articles were related to that. There were also several on a gas leak at a plant in Oklahoma and a few on a stock market dive.

Disasters everywhere but no zombie apocalypse. There was also no mention on the front page about the hotel last week.

I went to a search bar and typed in Brock’s name. There were two articles that were interesting from seven days ago.

One had Brock’s company logo on it with him standing at a microphone with Angela.

I growled audibly but kept reading.

The article described the investigation into the security leaks. Maggie and Robert had been released from custody and cleared of suspicion. This didn’t surprise me too much since, at least in Maggie’s case, she seemed to be a little shady but not bright enough to pull something like that off. I didn’t know Robert and had no idea why he had also been taken in. It also listed two other people that had been released. Both of the names I recognized from the night of the party. They had been sitting at our table but I hadn’t conversed with them much.

The next article had a statement from Brock and Aiden about the continued investigation. Colton Blackwell was quoted several times about the attempt on his life recently at the hotel and about having no involvement in corporate crime. It was fairly standard as far as statements went and there were no counter statements from Brock’s company.

Nothing crazy for the most part.

I typed in Colton Blackwell’s name. Tons of articles came up. Too many to read through. It was strange how I had never heard about him until Brock had mentioned him several days ago and now his name was all over the internet. I wasn’t necessarily hooked on news everyday but the likelihood of running across at least one article about him was probable and I hadn’t before. Now he seemed to be all over the place.

I went to the search bar and typed in my full name.

There was one article categorized under “Oddball News?” with the title of “Missing Heiress or Hoax?”

I read through it slowly. There was a blurry picture of me from what looked like the hotel. I thought back to the camera that had swung my way when Mr. Blackwell had been giving his interview. The angle should have been very clear but the still picture was blurred. According to the article, due to technical difficulties during the interview the camera had malfunctioned but had captured a shot of a woman that resembled the missing heiress to the Wellington fortune.

Heiress? I blinked a couple of times and ignored another beep from my phone.

The article went on to state the time and circumstances around the disappearance. It had a picture of my parents in mugshots and stated that their bodies were recently discovered in their home five days ago. Both had been found shot in a suspected home robbery. No suspects.

My father and mother were dead.

I felt like I should be upset by the news. There should be some sliver of sadness somewhere in me but when I searched for it there was nothing. The article had just confirmed that they had been living and doing things in their lives without wondering too much where we were.

The article had gone on to list their crimes, time served and recent business ventures. It also mentioned money that had been in a trust from a distant relative and had not been seized in the investigation four years ago.

A woman claiming to be my paternal grandmother was seeking information and it listed a phone number.

I frowned. My mother’s parents were dead, I knew that. But I had never met my other grandmother. When I was younger, I had been told that she was very ill once when I had asked about our family tree. The subject hadn’t come up again and I had never seen her. She was the mother of a son who was the worst parent in the world though so it didn’t matter either way. She couldn’t have been much of a parent to raise the son that she did.

Oddball News. That described it accurately enough.

I looked up her name in an internet search bar and started reading. She was a patron of the arts and outspoken community leader in St. Louis with ties to Habitat for Humanities and several world outreach programs. She had served on the city council and was a retired physician.

There were no bad or scandalous articles about her. No nefarious ties to crime or corruption. Every article painted a perfect picture of a woman involved in programs to help people. It made absolutely no sense if I judged her against what I knew of my father.

I sat back and grabbed my phone again. Two texts from Brock.

Brock: I love you. I have for a while now.

Brock: I promise I’ll tell you everything that’s happening later. Just need a little more time. Just keep an open mind with things.

I set the phone down and hid my face in my hands. His words affected me and I felt them deeply. I didn’t think Brock of all people would say them lightly but, fuck, he had the worst possible timing.

There were voices outside the room. Deep male voices that were arguing. Noah and Owen were probably pissed if they couldn’t find me. I heard a cell phone ring as they walked by the door and heard Noah pick up.

“Brock, she’s not in the house,” I heard Owen say.

I wrote down the number to call my grandmother’s hotline on the inside of my arm rather than the file folder. The folder was going to be so far up Brock’s ass by the time I finished with him that I wouldn’t want to retrieve it.

My eyes narrowed at the door. Brock the asshole loved me. Impeccable timing. It was perfect for my life though. Oddball News. I should write a biography.

I grabbed the folder, made my way over to the door and yanked it open.

Noah and Owen swung their eyes to me and looked surprised. I dug the credit card out of my back pocket and tossed it on the ground.

“Tell Perseus the game is up.”

I walked out carrying my file, gave them both a look that halted any conversation and walked to Brock’s bedroom. Stuffing the file in a bag, I made sure my other paperwork was tucked inside. Drew and I were going to find a different life and I wasn’t sure what that looked like but we needed something away from here.

My hands twitched as I zipped the bag up and I shook them out, trying to calm my nerves. I felt a heavy pressure in my chest that had seemed to develop in the last twenty minutes and had only gotten worse after Brock’s text.

Love.

When you lied to someone was it love? Had he pretended not to know about me just to get me to tell him things?

A sob slipped out of my mouth and I covered it with one of my hands. Fresh tears hit my fingers and I squeezed my eyes shut. My parents were dead. Brock said he loved me.

If he found that information a long time ago, he had already known the truth.

To me it seemed like this had all been a game for him if that was true. The prize was getting me in bed and having me confess all my secrets. There was an element of extreme control in all of this that reeked of insensitivity. He found my information and wanted to what? Embarrass me? Interrogate me? Have fun making me bend to his curiosity?

His responses to my confessions had seemed so genuine though.

Angela? Had that been a lie too? The thought of it infuriated me.

I wiped my tears and straightened my shoulders. I wasn’t jealous. Not one bit. My hand slid over my chest trying to ease the ache.

I grabbed my bag and headed to the living room where I saw Noah and Owen pacing with concerned looks on their faces.

“I want to go to Aiden and Liv’s house. I want to see my brother.”

Noah and Owen exchanged a look.

“If you don’t take me I’ll call the police.”

Owen spoke first. “Andi, he loves you and even we can see it. Whatever he’s done, I’m positive he thought it was a way to protect you.”

I huffed. “I appreciate that you feel that way about your brother. If it was my brother I would think the same thing but you don’t mess around in people’s heads like we’re all pawns on a chessboard. Even that goes too far. There was a line and he crossed it. I think he knew who I was from the beginning!”

A tear slid down my face and I swiped it away with the back of my hand.

“Your brother is a player and had a clear end game to this all planned out. If he had told me that he loved me several days ago I would have believed him and told him the same thing. Instead, he locked me in the house and didn’t tell me a damn thing. Lies by omission hurt just the same as the blatant ones.”

Noah growled. “I’m not sure what this is about but I’m fairly certain he found out about the same time as we did. I know for a fact that he didn’t know about the abuse, Andi. That was something that he absolutely wasn’t expecting because he was yelling about it on the phone after he heard it. The thing is, we’re dealing with this too. We’ve been worried for days about him because we saw something in the news about your parents. Did you read it?”

I nodded.

“I have no idea what he’s done but it doesn’t sit well with us either,” he said.

I scrunched up my face. “Do you think he killed them?”

Owen raised his hands. “We don’t know shit. All we know is that your face was on TV, then it wasn’t because of all the news lately. Then it ended up blurry. We know about as much as you do, but when my brother says he loves someone that isn’t normal for him and we don’t know how far he would go to express it. Hypothesizing about what he may or may not have done isn’t getting us anywhere.”

Noah jumped in when I opened my mouth to retort. “All we know is that he said he loved you over the phone last night to both of us. He’s been acting like a man completely obsessed with your safety. He doesn’t tell us stuff like that. In fact, he doesn’t even tell us what he does half the time and I can’t remember the last time he’s even reached out to mom and apparently he called her yesterday.”

“I’m leaving,” I said quietly. “I must love him back because otherwise this wouldn’t hurt as much as it does. He’s controlling and what he did was wrong if I’m right. The one thing you can’t control is people and the way they’re going to react. If he did shoot my parents, I don’t really care. I really don’t. That may make me sound like an awful person but I could forgive him for that. Convincing me that I could trust him is going way beyond that and I’m not sure I can forgive that. I don’t think I have it in me.”

“Andi,” Owen said as he came over and laid a hand on my shoulder. “He’s on his way here, just hear him out.”

I pulled my phone out of my back pocket and dialed my grandmother’s hotline that I had written down on my arm.

The phone gave me a prerecorded message then the voicemail.

“Yes, this is Andromeda Renee Wellington. My parents are Claire and Roland Wellington. My brother’s name is Andrew Peter Wellington. I have a birthmark on my lower back in the shape of a heart and my social security number is—”

Noah hissed and ran a hand through his hair.

“— I’ll be at Aiden Latimer’s estate in Lakefield, Texas if you would be interested in meeting. Thank you.”

I hung up and looked at Owen face. I caught the sadness in his eyes but he nodded in acceptance of what I had just done as if he knew it was the only option left to me.

“Okay, I’ll take you over. Are you sure?” he asked.

“Yes,” I whispered. There was no turning back now.

I turned to Noah as my phone beeped.

“I know you don’t approve but if you truly think of me as a sister then you would do anything to help. I hate to say that because we’re not blood but think about it.”

He gave me an annoyed look. “I’ll call Aiden.”

I shrugged and pulled my phone out. Brock had texted.

Brock: I love you. I love you. More than anything. Please believe me. I’m on my way, just hear me out.

My gut clenched when I read it and fresh tears fell as I grabbed my bag and walked to the car, following Noah and Owen. Bags stowed and sitting in the backseat as we rolled out of the driveway I watched the scenery pass by. My cell was clutched in my hand.

Noah called Aiden to let him know we were on our way.

Good or bad I had just made a decision that would change my life. Again. Drew’s life as well and I hoped I had made the right choice for both of us.

I looked at Brock’s last text again and sucked in a big shuddering breath. For all his faults and his idiotic mistakes, I still loved him. He needed to know what consequences looked like though. If I believed half of what the girls had told me about his shenanigans then he had yet to face the true meaning of what happened when you didn’t exercise restraint or give at least some respectful boundaries to the people’s lives you swore to protect.

Both Noah and Owen’s phones rang several times. They didn’t answer. I knew that they would eventually but at least it wasn’t in front of me. I gave Brock an hour before he showed up at Aiden’s house. Less time if he was tracking us.

I rubbed the arm that had been given the shot with the tracker. It was probably pointless to get it removed. He would probably find me regardless.

We pulled up to Aiden’s house, buried in a sea of trees on his private property and I took a deep breath.

It was now or never. I would plead my case with Aiden and see where things went.