Sins, Lies & Spies (Black Brothers #2)(61)

“Ask her. She knows everything.” His fingers clawed at my hands. “Get out of my house.”

Trinity’s hands hooked around the back my belt. “Let’s go. I need to get out of here.” I tightened my hold on Miles. “Please,” she whimpered.

I glanced over my shoulder. Her entire body shook. Her eyes were wide and pleading. “Fine.” My hands dropped from his neck, and I guided her out of the door, not bothering to shut it behind me.

She stood on the street, her head hanging down and her eyes pinched shut. “How did you find me?”

I stared down the street, trying to find a way to sugarcoat my answer. Nothing came to me, and I didn’t want to lie to her anyway. We had both been subjected to enough lies. “I installed a tracking device on your phone after you agreed to work for me. I needed to know if you were being honest with me.” I blew out a breath. “When I saw you go to Miles’s house, I followed, not because I don’t trust you, but because I don’t trust him.”

She rubbed her eyes. “I should be mad at you for so many reasons right now, but I’m glad you showed up. I wanted to kill Miles and his dumb ex-wife.” She shook her head, her lips flat and her eyes dull. “I don’t know what to do. I’m so lost right now.”

Without a word, I edged up behind her and looped my arms around her waist. Her muscles tensed before she wilted into my embrace. I bent my head, my lips sliding along the slope of her neck and back up to her chin.

“We’ll figure it out.”

She tipped up her head, her dark eyes sizing me up, peering into my soul. “Did you know Richard Benton named me as a beneficiary of the Benton Family Trust? Did you know I have to make some claim on it before I turn twenty-five, which is in two months?”

“No.” I rested my chin on top of her head. “But now it makes more sense why the Benton family wanted you to keep the connection secret.”

She spun in my arms. “I’m sorry about last night. Don’t hate me.”

I glanced down at her, my throat tightening. “You’re forgiven. Besides, I could never hate you.” Now wasn’t the time to throw mud at each other.

She made a harsh sound in the back of her throat, her face filling with dread and regret. “No. You should be mad. I put Derrick before you just because he’s my brother, but he never earned it. Other than giving me some money and sparing a few hours of his time on occasion, he didn’t earn my loyalty. You did.”

I smiled crookedly. “I’ll forgive you if you conveniently forget I was tracking your phone.” I pressed my key fob.

“Hm. I’ll think about it.”

I opened the passenger door of my car. “Get in.”

“Where are we going?” she asked as I pulled away from the curb.

“Back to your place.”

She leaned forward, rubbing her hands together in front of the heat vent. “I was supposed to meet Derrick at his house an hour ago.”

“Cancel it.”

Her pupils flared. “Why? I need to confront him more than ever. According to Miles, he wanted to keep my identity secret because he didn’t want me to claim my share of the trust.” She slumped in her seat, her chin resting against her chest.

“You’re not meeting with him alone. We’re hiring an attorney to get to the bottom of this. You can’t trust anything Derrick says. Archer has people on retainer. They’ll need to do a conflicts check, but we can probably get them to set up something as early as tomorrow.”

“I don’t think so.” A bitter laugh spilled from my mouth. “Derrick will drag his feet as long as possible. He’ll take this right down to the wire.”

“No. He won’t because we’ll take your story straight to the media and he knows it. The only thing worse than revealing his father had an illegitimate daughter would be that he tried to screw you out of your inheritance.”

She closed her eyes and leaned her shoulder against mine. “You know what’s crazy? I don’t even think I want the money. He could have convinced me to give it up. I just wanted to have him in my life. Maybe I should tell him he can keep the money.”

“No,” I said, my voice echoing inside the car.

Her eyelids unsealed, and she stared at me, bewildered. “Why not?”

“You shouldn’t give up anything until you know everything. Maybe your dad left a message for you. Once you understand your rights and what the intent of the trust was, then you can do whatever you want, but don’t make a half-cocked decision.”

“Yeah, that makes sense.” She sucked her lips into her mouth, and her voice dropped. “Can I ask you something?”

“Sure.”

She turned her legs toward me. “Do you remember the night when you found me looking through your files?” Her voiced trailed off, and she picked at a loose thread on the hem of her shirt.

“Yes. I think you tried to steal a couple of them.”

A wobbly smile spread across her face. “Well, I found a file with my mom’s name on it. I didn’t get a chance to look at it. Why were you researching her?”

My grip on the steering wheel tightened. “What is your mom’s name again?”

“Anna Jones.”

I wiped my hand across my lips, hesitating for a beat. “I didn’t realize she was your mom.”