Sweet Retribution (Rydeville High Elite #3)(44)

I clear my throat and shake off my sex-obsessed thoughts. “Now that we’ve gotten that settled, what have you discovered about our father?” My gaze skirts between Sawyer and Xavier.

“Hearst Senior, the man who apparently adopted your father, was actually his biological father,” Sawyer confirms.

Drew frowns. “But I thought his mother was a prostitute and her pimp was his dad?”

Xavier shakes his head. “Because that’s the fake story he’d rather have people believe. It’s better than acknowledging he’s the illegitimate bastard son of a wealthy man who was screwing prostitutes behind his wife’s back.”

“I can’t imagine that going down too well within the order or with the council,” Kai says.

“It wouldn’t,” Drew agrees. “It’s one thing to be a down-on-your-luck quasi-orphan and a ward of the state and quite another to be an illegitimate child and dirty little secret. If this was common knowledge, it would cast more doubt on his campaign.”

“Maybe we should release that info anonymously,” Jackson suggests.

“It could be a useful distraction,” I admit, thinking out loud. “But he’ll know someone is on to him then, and we risk exposure before we’re ready.”

“What if we pinned it on this other faction?” Kai says. “Whoever this guy is pulling my dad’s strings?”

“We’d need to know who it was in order to set it up, so the blame falls on him,” Drew adds. “Have you asked your father about him?”

Kai shakes his head. “Not yet. I’ve only started worming my way back in. If I start asking leading questions, he’ll smell a rat. This has to be played carefully.” Kai absently runs his thumb back and forth across the back of my hand, and it’s enormously difficult to concentrate, because his touch does amazing things to my body.

“I don’t think we can use it yet,” I say. “Because that’ll put the bastard on high alert, and he might increase his security, making it even harder to achieve our goals. I think we need to keep that in our arsenal and either we release it closer to the vote to put him on edge, or we include it in the big reveal on the day.”

“Or we keep it in reserve in case we need to use it at some critical point,” Drew suggests.

“Agreed,” Sawyer says, turning his head to me. “What progress are we making on the wedding front?”

“Charlie seems on board,” I supply. “But he hasn’t set a date or anything. I intend to apply pressure this week, so it moves along.”

Anger rolls off Kai in waves, and I kiss him quickly on the lips.

“I’ve mentioned it with Father. Presenting it as the ultimate test,” Drew says, his mouth pulling into a tight line. He tugs at his collar. “His eyes actually lit up at the idea.” He stares at me. “And it makes me unbelievably nervous. If he gets you down there, Abby, he could try anything.”

I lean forward in my chair as Kai’s hand wraps around my arm. “I’ll be with you or Charlie at all times,” I remind him. “I know how dangerous it is, and I won’t risk going anywhere alone.”

“I’m fairly certain Rick and I will be invited,” Kai says. “We can help keep a lookout.”

Sawyer pulls out his phone. “I’ll get some earpieces from Dad,” he says, not looking up as he taps out a message. “He has these new prototypes they’re developing. They are tiny little buds that slot into the ear. Virtually unnoticeable unless you were looking. You can all wear them and keep in contact with one another.”

“How can I score me some of those?” Xavier asks, his eyes glimmering with excitement.

“You can’t.” Sawyer gloats.

“Not even for sexual favors?” Xavier rests his elbows on the table, staring intently at Sawyer. “I’m up for anything in the bedroom. You can do whatever you want to me. Nothing is off-limits.” He waggles his brows, and his tongue darts out, toying with his lip ring.

Drew spits coffee all over the table, and Jackson throws back his head, laughing, because the expression on Sawyer’s face is priceless. It’s a cross between wanting to throttle Xavier with his bare hands and wanting to test him to see if he means it.

I can’t see Xavier and Sawyer on the same wavelength to ever start something permanent. But I wonder if they’ll end up hooking up at some point. There is enough tension between them to suggest that’s a possibility.

“Screw off, Xavier. Hell will freeze over before I let you touch my cock,” Sawyer says, and Kai rolls his eyes.

“What about the security system in the dungeon? Any luck there?” I ask, not even attempting to disguise my deliberate change of subject.

Sawyer shoots me a grateful look. “Drew found some old plans from the time the place was constructed, and we’re building a picture of the layout. My father has given me a couple of trustworthy guys, and they are working around the clock to infiltrate the firewall and to descramble the video footage from Christmas Day. Your father obviously hired guys who knew what they were doing to set the whole thing up, but my dad’s guys are better. We’ll get there.”

“Great. I’ve had a few conversations with Chad, and the team is primed and ready to go but they need some place to work.” I glance at Xavier. “Would you be willing to let them work from here? I was thinking we could clear out that space at the rear of the main room, put in desks, and you already have the technology all set up.”