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“A file on us?”
“Standard procedure for any person who becomes involved in Alstone Holdings. They do a background check, investigate their relationships, criminal records check, and so forth. West here has worked out how to bypass their security systems, so he was able to get hold of copies of all their checks.”
“So you found something that made you suspicious?”
“Not in the checks, no. It’s her shady as fuck behaviour. The way she wormed her way into dad’s life, and…” Caiden’s voice trailed off as he glanced at Weston. “Just the way she works people. She gets them wrapped around her little finger, and she’s managed to go from a disowned school dropout to the wife of one of the most powerful men in the country and a shareholder in Alstone Holdings. None of the four of us trust her, and we won’t make the mistake of underestimating her.”
“I see. I guess that makes sense.” I held his gaze. “The file wasn’t the only thing you had on me, was it?”
“No.” His eyes flicked between the others, and Zayde gave an almost imperceptible nod. “We’ve been watching you. On and off.”
“Yeah, that was pretty obvious, from the way you shadowed me all the time.” I rolled my eyes. “Other times, too, though?”
Caiden nodded. I’d gathered as much, from what Cassius had mentioned before, but I was glad he’d actually admitted it. I decided not to mention that I was more than a little pissed off with their invasion of my privacy. They didn’t know me when I’d first arrived, and to be honest, I’d have been suspicious of me if I was in their position.
“Also,” West added, leaning forwards in his chair and placing his hand over mine, “we got a code blue notification when your dad died. The day after, if you wa
“Code blue? Huh?” I stared at him.
“Yeah.” He removed his hand from mine and tapped on the computer screen, indicating a small icon in the bottom corner. “If any kind of serious issue happens relating to anyone either involved in, or related to someone in Alstone Holdings, they have an alert system so the other board members can be notified. Since I can access their systems, I have a co
I was starting to get a clearer picture of the situation, and I was now almost positive that she was somehow involved in my dad’s death. At the very least, she was pla
“You know what, I bet he had a load of stuff on his computer. Like, proper evidence. Everything was destroyed in the explosion, though.”
“What about his work computer?”
“Nothing. Or if there was something, the hard drive was wiped, but I don’t think he would have risked storing anything on there. We’re lucky that we even have this file.”
“Let’s go through the other notes and write them out.” Weston brought up the document where he’d started making the to-do list.
“Well, CC has to be Christine Clifford, my mother. Since my dad had the photo, and from what he said in the text to me. So I think the first bit says ‘Christine Clifford. Meeting man. Alstone Holdings. Pla
“Yeah.” Zayde agreed, and the others nodded.
“The other notes seem fairly self-explanatory, but we need to know who these people are. Davis, if that’s what it says, and Andromeda.”
“So you think my dad’s meeting or somehow co
“Davis could be a first name or a surname,” Cassius interjected. “It might not even be Davis. Could be Mavis. All we can see is the first bit of the letter.”
“Good point. Add it to the document,” I said to Weston.
“And then we have Andromeda. No fucking clue who she is. Or what.” Weston turned to the others. “Anyone?”
“Sounds like a stripper to me.”
“Hey! It’s a lovely name, don’t be rude.” I reached over and smacked Cass’ arm playfully.
“Sorry.” He gri
We brainstormed for another ten minutes or so while Weston finished making all the notes, and we had the begi
Leaning back in my chair, I rubbed my hand over my face. “Okay. I think I’m done here for now. This is a lot to take in, and I need more sleep. Can we come back to this once we’ve had time to process it all and come up with some ideas?”
“Sounds good to me. I need to go back to bed,” Cass yawned.
I stood and made a point of looking at each one of them in turn. “I just wanted to say thanks to you all for helping with this. I know you have your own reasons, but it means a lot to me.”
“I told you. You’re one of us now.” Cassius winked at me, and I smiled.
“Yeah. Right, I’m going to head back to my place. Do you want me to leave the file?”
“Nah, take it and put it in a safe place. I’ve sca
Caiden and Zayde both disappeared without a goodbye while I was talking to Weston, but I shrugged it off. The dynamics of the Four intrigued me, so much. Weston and Cassius, making me feel welcome. Yeah, Cass was probably a little too welcoming…but Caiden and Zayde? Those two were a lot harder to read.
As I drove home, my mind raced with all the new information I’d been given this morning. One thing was for sure: I needed to speak to my mother and subtly ask questions, to see if I could find out anything at all that could be of use, no matter how small.
I groaned aloud. No way was I going through that alone. I guess it was time to set up another family di
Fingers crossed it would go better than the last one.