Ky is trying hard to keep his reactions neutral but Alex’s words have cut deep.
“I hate my life,” Kent says matter-of-factly. “I hate this dysfunctional family. I wish I was dead.”
“Kent.” I step toward him, and he harrumphs.
“Don’t even bother, Faye. You’re wasting your energy on a lost cause.” Shaking his head, he turns in the direction of the bedrooms and walks off.
Ky laughs bitterly. “At least he’s not going out anymore.” He looks over at me, a mix of longing, anguish, and torment etched on his face. “He’s right though. You should get as far away from us as you can. I can’t see how we’re going to end up in a good place, and you’re too good to be brought down with us.”
I walk to him until we’re face to face and lace my fingers in his. “I’m going nowhere. Irrespective of what the tests reveal, I’m already part of this family. And family stick together.”
Ky releases another bitter laugh. “Pity my parents didn’t get that memo.”
“I want to comfort you, but I don’t know how.” I give his hand a gentle squeeze which is about the extent of what I can offer.
Ky extracts his hand from mine, pinching the bridge of his nose as he looks to the floor. “Just go, Faye, please. I know you mean well, but you’re only making it worse.”
His words pick at invisible wounds, hurting more than they should. I know where he’s coming from and that he wants the same things I do, but his statement still cuts me to the bone.
Without looking at him, I walk away, and my aching heart feels like deadweight in my chest.
I’m dressed all in black as I slip out my window the second the guard patrolling this side of the house rounds the next bend. I race across the lawn, keeping to the right-hand side to avoid triggering the spotlight as I approach the woods at the rear of our garden. I’m panting, and out of breath, by the time I push through the creaky wooden gate behind the guesthouse my cousins normally use as party central. I doubt it’ll be seeing much action in the coming weeks.
Rose is lounging against the side of her car, tapping her foot impatiently off the ground while she waits for me. “Psst!” I hiss and she jumps about ten feet in the air. I snigger. She whacks me in the arm. “Ow! You pack a mean punch!”
“You all but gave me a coronary!” She slaps a hand over her chest. “Dammit, Faye! Don’t creep up on me like that.”
“Sorry,” I say, sniggering again as I jump in the passenger seat.
She starts up the engine. “We still doing this?”
“Hell to the yes. I need to know what that cow is up to. Ky warned me to leave Addison to him, but I don’t trust her not to manipulate him. My instinct tells me she’s at the root of everything that’s going on, and I won’t sit around any longer twiddling my thumbs while she plots other ways to ruin my cousins. We’re going to shut her down.”
“Alrighty then, let’s get this show on the road.”
Rose parks the car in a dark, spooky lane around the corner from Addison’s house. “Come on,” she whispers once she’s locked the car. “This way.” She nudges me with her shoulder.
“Why are we whispering?” I whisper.
She shrugs. “I’m being careful in case anyone is around.”
My eyes survey the blank canvas surrounding us and I grin. “Stop being a nervous Nancy. There’s no one here.”
We traipse through empty fields, wading through long, muddy grass, for about fifteen minutes until Rose holds up a hand to caution me. “We are at the back of her house now,” she whispers. “See there.” She points to a row of tall trees bordering a succession of high fencing. I nod. “We’ll follow that line up the side of her house, and then we’ll have to climb over. I’m not sure where her bedroom is, but let’s get on the property and see how the land is lying.”
“That’s fine by me. Today is only a scouting mission anyway. We’ll have to plan a return when no one is here so we can do some snooping in her room.”
“Well, aren’t you a right Nancy Drew?” she whisper-teases, and I have to stifle my snort.
“I loved those books! My mum had read them as a child, and she kept them for me. I lost count of the number of times I reread them. I so wanted to be a detective when I grew up!” A soulful pang hits me in the chest. It’s the first time in days that I’ve thought happy thoughts about Mum.
“I was talking about the TV show.”
“That was pants. You’ve gotta read the books.” Light is minimal, and our vision is restricted, but I don’t need to see her to know she’s rolling her eyes. “Are you rolling your eyes at me?”
“Are you planning on spying on Addison anytime this century, or did you want to resume discussing amateur sleuths?”
“Antsy today, aren’t you?” I snark back, but there’s no heat behind my words.
“That was me giving you the middle finger, in case you didn’t sense that one.”
I laugh quietly. “Okay, serious hat back on. Are you sure there’s no operational security system? I’d rather not get arrested tonight.” James would throw a hissy fit.
“I told you my uncle installed the security system, and he said all the cameras are for show. Addison’s dad is a real penny pincher despite the fact he’s loaded. Rumor is his wife splashes the cash with abandon, and he won’t part with a dime.”
“Well, I don’t see Addison wanting for much.”
“Oh, Mrs. Sinclair always makes sure her princess has everything she needs.”
“Did you just roll your eyes again?”
This time it’s Rose’s turn to laugh. “Totally.” She tugs on my elbow. “Come on. The longer this takes the more we risk being discovered. Let’s scout the place out and then get the hell away from here.”
Keeping close to the perimeter of the Sinclair property, we run quickly and quietly until we’ve reached the farthest point of the fence. I prop Rose up with my hands, and she swings her petite body over the top of the fence with ease. Pushing off the panels on the fence, I hoist myself up and over, landing quietly on the other side. My eyes scan the vast garden before raking over the two-story mansion to my left. It’s clear the Sinclairs have plenty of money even if the house is smaller than I was expecting. Then again, the majority of houses seem small when compared with the Kennedy estate. Most of the house is in darkness, which is not unexpected at eleven p.m. at night, but buttery light streams out of one lower level window, attracting our interest. “They won’t operate the alarm until they go to bed, and I can see lights on downstairs, so someone is definitely still up,” Rose whispers. “It’s safe. Come on.”
Crouching down, and keeping our bodies flush to the wall, we creep slowly toward the only sign of life. My heart is pounding in my chest, and an influx of adrenaline floods my system. My palms are sweaty, and the nervous-excited sensation bouncing around my veins has me wired and edgy. I gulp back my panic as we inch closer. The large bay window is ajar, and as we draw nearer, the sounds of an argument waft through the air.
“Haven’t you ruined my life enough already?” Addison’s familiar whiny voice greets me.
“Darling,” a posh female voice says. “That was never the inten—”
“Stop it, Mother!” Addison’s voice is cutting. “I’m sick of hearing the same lies over and over.”
“Addy,” another woman says. “We did what was best for you.” Her voice is rough, coarse, like she’s had a twenty-a-day-cigarette habit since she was in nappies. “If you’d just lemme explain.”
“You shut your mouth!” Addison yells, sounding more and more like a fishwife. “I have nothing to say to you. Not now. Not ever. And this is the last time I’ll tell you both—stop ambushing me like this, or the next time I’ll disappear. I mean it.”
Oh, please mean it. Please disappear. I’m already planning the celebratory party in my head.
Sounds of stom
ping feet are accompanied by loud, exasperated sighs in the room. As Addison’s footsteps recede, the conversation resumes. “This is hopeless,” the woman with the distinctive, crude, gravelly voice says.
“You should never have forced me to tell her. You reneged on our deal!”
“Bullshit, Veronica!”
“Do not use that foul language in this house!” Addison’s mother sounds like she’s on the verge of self-combustion, and I can imagine her sitting stiffly in her seat with her chest puffed out and her cheeks turning red. I clamp a hand over my mouth to smother my giggle.
A light flickers on upstairs, emitting a rainbow of golden brightness, which illuminates our position, scaring the heck out of me. I jump in fright and my foot meets something solid on the patio beneath me. My breath hitches as I look down at the ground, just in time to watch the brown plant pot topple over with a loud thud. Rose’s eyes widen in terror.
“What was that?” Addison’s mum declares from inside the room. I grab Rose’s arm and start running, so grateful that we had the foresight to wear soft-cushioned sneakers. We fling ourselves around the bend of the house as a wide spotlight elucidates the outdoor space and the tappity-tap of heels lands on the stone patio floor. My heart is racing erratically in my chest, and I’m working hard to recalibrate my panicked breathing. A line of sweat coasts down my spine even though I feel frozen all over. Rose clutches my hand in a death grip as we listen with bated breath.
“The cat knocked over one of my plants,” Mrs. Sinclair says. “Stupid animal. I’ve no idea why Addison adores that cat so much.” We wait for another couple of minutes—which feel like years—until the light and the sound of voices dies out before scrambling back over the fence and running across the fields as if our lives depend on it.
We don’t even talk when we are back in the car. Rose drives us a few miles from Addison’s house, before pulling over and slumping over the steering wheel. “Ohmigawd, I think I died about ten times.”
“Holy shitballs for dinner,” I croak. “That was way too close.” I bark out an adrenaline-fueled laugh. “We are crappy spies.”
Rose lifts her head, laughing with me. “We aren’t completely clueless. We still gathered some intel, and I think it’s safe to say we now know which bedroom is Addison’s.”
“I’m not sure I have the guts to return,” I admit, holding out my trembling arm as evidence. “I haven’t stopped shaking since we left.”
“What do you think all that was about?” She looks contemplative.
“I don’t know, but I’d love to find out.” I wrack my brains, going over my previous conversations with Ky. “Ky said something was going on with her at home and she changed. Whatever they were discussing back there is obviously connected. I wonder what is going on with her. If that’s when all this stuff with Ky started, maybe that’s where we need to look first.” I tap a finger off my lips as I muse out loud.
“How the heck do we do that?”
“Haven’t a clue,” I admit, salivating at the notion that Addison has buried secrets she wants to keep hidden. This could be the exact weapon we need to play her at her own game.
All I need is to figure out a way of uncovering the truth.
Chapter Ten
I wake at the butt crack of dawn the next morning, the noise of a very loud drill penetrating my brain. I’m unsure if I’m dreaming, if the noise is real, or if someone is boring an actual hole in my skull. I lift my head up and listen. Definitely real. Ugh. Glancing briefly at the time on my phone, I groan as I bury my head under the pillow, cursing whoever has woken me up two hours before I need to get ready for school.
The next time I’m woken up, it’s to the sound of a loud ruckus in the corridor outside. Yawning, I haul my weary ass out of the bed and tie my dressing gown around my waist. I open my door and enter the corridor the same time Keaton emerges from his room. “What’s going on?” I ask, as arguing voices tickle my eardrums.
I lift my eyes to the ceiling. Here we go again.
I’m half-thinking of phoning one of the TV production companies to see if anyone is in the market for a new family soap opera. The Kennedys would definitely give the Kardashians a run for their money.
The rest of the family is in the lobby when Keaton and I arrive. Alex’s hair is sticking up all over the place, and she hasn’t a scrap of makeup on her face. She is wearing baggy sweats and a wrinkled T-shirt, and I have to blink a few times to make sure it’s the same woman. The press would have a field day if they saw the state of the Kennedy Apparel CEO right now. Bloodshot eyes watch me examining the glass of half-drunk wine in her hand, her fingers clutching the stem like a lifeline. “Don’t judge. You have no idea what I’m going through.” Her eyes plead for understanding.
Ky shoots me a worried look. Persistent thumping rattles the front door as James hollers at his wife. “Alex. This is ridiculous. Let me in!”
“Mom, you can’t lock him out forever,” Ky ventures.
Alex puts her glass on one of the steps before standing up with her arms folded in a matronly fashion across her chest. “Want a bet?”
“You changed the locks?” Keaton peeks up at his mother with big, sad eyes. “You’re kicking him out permanently?”
“Yes, and he’ll have to get used to it.”
“But he’s my dad. Our dad. I don’t want him to go.” Tears glisten in Keaton’s eyes, and I slip my hand in his.
Alex’s face yields a smidgeon as she steps off the stairs, approaching her son. “I’m sorry, honey. I didn’t want this, but he’s left me no choice.”
Kent’s face is wound tight as he rushes past me, returning to his bedroom without uttering a single word. All my cousins have their issues, but, out of all of them, Kent is the one most likely to do something completely reckless. Ky and I exchange more troubled looks. Alex rakes a hand through her hair, her resolve wavering in the face of her children’s distress. She wets her lips, looking at all of us, unsure of what to say.
Ky pushes off the wall and walks toward her. “At least let him in to get the rest of his stuff. I know he’s hurt you, and he probably deserves what’s coming to him, but you can’t leave him outside like this. The media is still at the front gates, and if they figure out what’s going on, they’ll most likely send in a chopper. Do you want any more of our personal business splashed over TV screens?”
Alex pats Ky’s arm, while James maintains his assault on the front door. “Okay.” She folds him in her arms. “I’m sorry for what I said last night, sweetheart. I didn’t mean to take it out on you or your brother. I’m sorry if my words hurt you.”
Ky looks at me over his mother’s shoulder. “It’s okay, Mom. I understand and I’m here for you.”
She presses a kiss to his forehead. “I love you. No matter what happens in the future, know I’ve always loved you.”
Alex is sporting some serious mood swings lately, and I don’t know about the others, but I’ve a bad case of whiplash from the aftereffects. I can never predict exactly what she’s going to say or do next. Grief and heartache impacts everyone differently, I guess, and I’m not unsympathetic, but she needs to get a grip, and quickly. She isn’t the only one hurting around here.
She opens the door with a flourish, glaring at her husband. James is furious. His cheeks are bright red, and his eyes glimmer with raw anger. “You have no right to change the locks. This is my home too. My name is on the deeds.”
He pushes past her into the lobby, stalling when he sees all of us watching.
“That’s something else I’ll be rectifying soon,” Alex replies in a cold voice.
“Over my dead body you will!”
“That can also be arranged,” she retorts, pinning her hands on her slim hips. “Don’t fucking tempt me, James.”
Keaton has an ice-grip on my hand, almost constricting the blood flow.
“Please don’t
do this, Alex. I’ve told you I’m fixing it.”
She cranks out a laugh, throwing her had back in exaggerated fashion. “This is your idea of fixing things!” she shrieks. “I’m losing everything I’ve worked for and you have the nerve to say that to me!”
“You need to give me a chance to make this right!” The desperate quality to James’s voice doesn’t go unnoticed by any of us. Every one of my cousins looks like their insides are being wrung tight, and my heart aches for them. James and Alex should be handling things in private instead of airing all their dirty laundry in front of their kids, but it’s obvious both of them are in bits over their deteriorating marriage and are incapable of acting in a calm, mature fashion.
My parents rarely argued, but I recall some humdinger rows behind closed doors. It’s only now I appreciate their attempts to conduct them in private even if that was a virtual impossibility within the confines of our small house and thin walls.
“I don’t need to do anything.” Alex straightens her spine and glares at her husband. “I don’t owe you a thing.” She jabs a slender finger in his chest. “This is all your fault. You just had to get mixed up with her because you’re like every other weak man who can’t keep it in his pants. I thought you were different, but I was wrong.”
“It was one mistake, Alex!”
“You think that makes it all right?!” She shoves him hard, and Ky moves into position beside her, planting a cautionary hand on her lower back. “I stand to lose everything because of your one mistake. The only chance I have of protecting myself and my boys is to distance myself completely from you. I have no other options.”
Tension filters through the air, and James goes rigidly still. “What do you mean by that?”
Alex’s shoulders sag in defeat. “I’m divorcing you, James. You can expect paperwork from my attorney later today.”
“No, Mom.” Keaton cries out, yanking his hand out of mine as he moves toward his mother. He clings to her. “Please don’t do this. Don’t break up our family.” His anguished pleas rip fresh strips off my already shredded heart.
Losing Kyler (The Kennedy Boys Book 2) Page 9