Sweet Retribution (Rydeville High Elite #3)(21)

“What do you think they’ll do?” Drew whispers in my ear, wrapping his arms around me and holding me close.

“I don’t know,” I murmur, “and it’s their call to make, but we can’t forget the bigger picture.”

Drew pulls me over to the couch, and we sit down, giving Kai and Rick time to deal with the bomb I’ve just dropped. “Do you have any ideas on how to get into the vault?” he asks me, and I’m glad for the distraction.

I answer him, keeping one eye on Kai. “Are there any plans of the basement that might help us?”

“None that I’m aware of, but there must have been at one time. Whenever he constructed it.”

“It wasn’t long after Mom passed,” I say, because I remember workmen traipsing in and out of the house for months on end.

“That’s right. I’ll talk to Xavier and see what we can dig up. But what then?”

“Then we need Xavier to locate the security software and hack into it. And we physically need to get down there to study the layout and the guard rotation.”

Drew’s brow puckers. Kai glances over his shoulder at me, and I mouth, “I love you.”

“Love you too,” he mouths back before returning to calming his brother down.

I glance at my cell, frowning at the time. I won’t be able to stay much longer, and I need some alone time with my guy. I check the tracker app, emitting a relieved sigh when it confirms Charlie is still at the house, hopefully snoring happily on my bed where I left him.

Drew rubs his temples. “You don’t mean that—”

“I do,” I cut my twin off. “I have to attend one of the events in the basement.” My stomach sours at the prospect, but there’s no way around it.

Even if Xavier hacks into the software system and manages to disable it so we can sneak down in the middle of the night, we can’t walk in blind. We need to have studied the layout in advance. Figured out the guard rotation and whether they patrol down there when the space isn’t in use and if there could be any number of traps we fall into it.

Father cannot know we have those tapes until the day of the vote.

“Hell will freeze over before I let you go down there.” Drew’s tone is loud, and it’s enough to capture the Anderson brothers’ attention.

“Go where?” Kai asks, shuffling toward me in obvious pain.

I draw a brave breath. I don’t want to fight with him, but I need to put this out there now. “I was just informing Drew that I need to attend a function in the basement so I can do some snooping.”

“No fucking way,” Kai snaps, maneuvering awkwardly onto the couch beside me. “I know you can handle yourself, Abby, but it’s too dangerous.”

“I’ll have Drew.” My tongue darts out to wet my lips. “And Charlie,” I add in a quieter tone of voice.

Predictably, Kai’s eyes burn with intense loathing and a muscle ticks in his jaw. “No, no, no.” He shakes his head repeatedly. “This isn’t going down like that.”

“It is, Kai.” I jerk my head up. “I know this is hurting you, but I have to convince Charlie our marriage is legit and that I’m willing to give the idea of us a try.”

“No. Fucking. Way!” He grips my shoulders firmly. “I know you have to go back there. I can just about tolerate that, but that’s it. It fucking kills me you have to do that because of me.”

“It’s not because of you!” I bark. “It’s not your fault. It’s his and my father’s, but I must toe the line, Kai, or they. Will. Kill. You.”

“They won’t get near enough to try.” Rage flickers under the surface of his skin.

“So, you’re going to drop out of school and move away from Rydeville? Go into hiding?” I ask, “because that’s the only way you can protect yourself from them.”

“Abby’s right,” Drew reluctantly agrees. “And it’s more than just protecting you. The whole plan impinges on Charlie being suckered in. He’s obsessed about Abby for years. And it’s reached a crisis point. He betrayed his father so he could have her. To him, she is the love of his life and his only salvation. If he doesn’t have Abby, Charlie will self-destruct in a big way, and he could seriously fuck with our plans.”

He shoots a sympathetic look at Kai. “I get that you hate it. Fuck, man, I hate it too. But he needs to believe she’s falling for him. It will help keep him distracted, so he doesn’t see what we are up to. It won’t take her long to convince him, because he is blind when it comes to her.”

“And he’s mentioned that he will be graduating early and dropping out of school to run the family business,” I add, hoping to soften the blow. Tentatively, I thread my fingers in his, relieved when he curls his hand around mine. “He’s going to be crazy busy with the business, supporting his mom and sister, and elite stuff, so I won’t see him that much, and at least we’ll get to see each other at school.”

“He’ll never tolerate that,” Kai grits out. “He’ll put some asshole guard on you. Or have spies at school reporting to him.”

“I’ve got it in hand.”

Kai arches a brow.

“I’m going to remind the students at school of the shit I have on them. If any of them blab, I will fucking ruin them. I’ll remind them what happened with Rochelle and Wesley, and that should put them in their place.”