Lies I Told(33)

But I couldn’t avoid them. Whoever was up was waiting for me to get home. Trying to sneak past them would only look suspicious. I left my bag on the table in the hall and headed for the family room.

Parker was on the sofa, his shadow backlit against the TV.

“How was it?” he asked without turning around.

“Fine.” I dropped next to him on the couch. “How was hanging out with Rachel?”

I kept my tone even, hoping Parker wouldn’t guess I was evading the question.

He reached for the remote and muted the TV. “Uneventful, more or less.”

“More or less?”

He looked around the room, like he wanted to make sure no one was around.

“Don’t,” I warned, wanting to head off anything that might be against the rules outside the War Room.

He nodded. “I can’t quite get a handle on her.”

I didn’t know whether to be relieved or even more worried than before. On the one hand, at least I wasn’t the only one having trouble with Rachel Mercer. But if she was being careful around Parker, too, it could only mean she didn’t trust any of us.

“She invited you to hang out,” I reminded him.

“I know,” he said. “Which is why it’s weird.” We sat in silence for a minute until he spoke again. “So? What about Logan?”

I shrugged. “It was nice. We made popcorn, watched a movie.”

His look was knowing. “That’s not what I’m asking.”

I took a deep breath, casting a glance at the stairs. “Parker . . .”

We couldn’t talk in the family room, and Parker knew it. But if I was honest with myself, I’d have to admit that I was relieved. Relieved that being outside the War Room gave me an excuse to keep private the details of my time with Logan, even if it was just until tomorrow.

He nodded, his jaw tight.

“We’ll talk tomorrow,” I promised, rising from the couch. And we would, whether I wanted to or not. Parker wouldn’t be the only one asking questions about my night with Logan. I looked at the TV, still on mute. “You coming up?”

He kept his eyes on the screen. “In a bit.”

“Okay, good night.”

“Night, Grace.”

I made my way upstairs, trying to stuff down the lump in my throat. For the first time since we’d become family, I was keeping things from Parker. They were piling up between us, making it hard for us to see each other like we used to. Now we were peering around our secrets, around all the things left unsaid, trying to figure out if there was still someone on the other side. I hated it. I just didn’t know what to do about it.

I threw on pajamas, washed my face, and brushed my teeth. Then I climbed into bed and turned off the light. The night was mild, the curtains billowing at the open window. I breathed in the moist brine that seemed to hang in the air on the peninsula and thought of Logan. Was he lying in bed, thinking about me, too?

I replayed every moment of the night, from his grin when I’d arrived to the first time his lips touched mine to the heat that had blossomed between us on the sofa. I tossed and turned, remembering the feel of his body, the look in his eyes—part desire, part tenderness—as he’d gazed down at me.

I told myself that it was only natural to get worked up. I was a sixteen-year-old girl. Logan was hot. And nice. It felt good to be held. To be kissed. To be touched. It was biology, that’s all.

“He’s just a guy,” I whispered into the dark. A reminder. “Just a mark.”





Twenty-Five


“Now we’ve got something to work with,” my dad said, a familiar gleam in his eye.

It was Sunday morning, and we were sitting at the table in the War Room, catching up on the progress each of us had made during the previous week.

“What did you find out about the security system?” Parker asked.

My dad unrolled a blueprint of the Fairchild house. “The gate’s intercom system is monitored by live security. There are cameras in the driveway and at all four exterior corners of the house, also monitored by Allied. The keypads at the front, back, and side doors have to be disarmed within thirty seconds of a breach. The ground-floor windows are also wired, but a breach from one of those gives us two minutes to disarm.”

“Two minutes?” I asked. “Why so long?”

“If someone who lives in the house forgets their key, they can get through one of the windows if it’s unlocked, but they’d need longer to get to the keypad to disarm the system,” he explained.

“Can’t we just clip the line on the alarm?” Parker asked.

He shook his head. “It automatically goes off if the line is cut.”

Parker drummed his fingers on the table. “Is anything else in the house wired? Any sign of a safe or panic room?”

“I told the installation consultants from Allied that we had a large safe we’d like protected. Told them whatever Warren had was fine. They said as far as they knew, nothing but the doors and windows were wired at the Fairchild estate.”

My mom’s forehead wrinkled a little like it did when she was thinking hard about something. “But if nothing else is wired, where is the gold?”

“It’s there. Warren probably just wants it off the grid,” my dad said.