by Ruby Vincent
“Modest,” I mused. “That’s what I always liked about you.”
We cracked up.
The truth was Blair and I sailed through our final semester of sophomore year, running the Sally house like a well-oiled machine. All those parties, events, theme nights, and bonding activities we organized and led together. Somewhere along the way we became friends for real. The two of us kept the house afloat.
“Ladies, what do you think?” Jade waved across the lawn where she was hanging up the final string of lights.
The two of us—and Jade.
My house mother did a one-eighty since the night of the fundraiser. The pinched lips and narrowed eyes fled in return of her million-watt smile and constant offers to take the stress off my plate. I knew there was more behind that smile. But there was nothing else for me to do except wait, watch, and run my house.
“Looks great,” I called.
I went back inside, continuing my sweep.
“Just a little higher on your side, Carmen.”
Carmen rose on tiptoe, balancing on the kitchen stool. She inched the banner up and taped it over the living room entrance. “Congratulations, Seniors!” spelled out in shiny gold letters.
One of the most baffling, insane school years had come to an end and the house demanded to celebrate it in style. The seniors were moving on and almost one-third of the Sallys and Sams were set to walk across the stage.
Aiden Connelly would not be one of them. He was in his fourth year of university. It just so happened that a prodigy like him easily juggled football, the presidency, friends, and an accelerated five-year program to earn his bachelor’s and master’s in mathematical finance. I had one more year with Aiden, and it was my last chance to discover the truth about him and the night he sent Sawyer to the van.
“Val, do any of the Sams have a peanut allergy?” Palmer poked her head out of the kitchen. “Teagan and I were thinking Thai.”
Teagan.
I had to learn the truth from Aiden because it definitely wasn’t coming from Teagan. She managed to earn readmission to our university due to unforeseen circumstances forcing her to leave. Sally house couldn’t turn her down after the admissions office welcomed her with open arms, so for the last six months, the very girl who recruited me lived upstairs in her old room. And the entire time she stuck to her story.
I cocked a brow. “You’re supposed to be thinking sour cream chips and soda.”
“I forget to turn the oven off one time—”
“Three times.”
“—and you ban me from cooking. Well, I’m going to show you my skills, Moon. Get ready for this.”
“You have to get me ready for something else,” I replied. “Three Sams have peanut allergies.”
She nodded. “It’s cool. I can make shrimp lettuce wraps sans nuts.”
“You can wrap deez nuts!” one of the girls shouted from the kitchen.
They busted up in there, howling so loud I felt my phone before I heard it. I fished it out and checked the screen.
“Hey, Maverick.”
Maverick.
His parents, family, and the boys called him Rick or Ricky. I’d always call him Maverick. I couldn’t help it. The way my tongue caressed the name and rolled it from my lips was almost too intimate for company.
“What’s up?” I asked. “Is robotics practice over?”
“I’m not at robotics. I’m in the library.” The hushed tone made sense. “Val, you have to get over here— Or I’ll come to you.”
My brows drew together. “Is everything okay?”
“I’m in, Val. In Aiden’s file. I hacked it.”
MAVERICK
I paced the study room. Back and forth in the closet of a space—interrupted by my shooting to the desk to check again.
Val arrived exactly twenty minutes after I called her. She blew in on a cloud of rose perfume and kissed me, soothing my agitation the way only she could.
“You did it?” she asked, turning to the laptop. “It’s been months. How did you get in?”
“I’m sorry it took so long.” I pulled out a chair for her to sit. “I know how serious this is, but I had to go slow. Use outside networks. Mask my IP address. Consult three different hackers. One of whom didn’t speak English.”
Val rubbed the back of my neck. She knew the struggles I had butting against the first program I didn’t know how to hack. It was long nights at my desk while she rubbed my shoulders, testing how long I’d hold out until my need for her pulled me to bed. After she fell asleep, I went back to my desk to wrestle with the file again.
“I’ve never seen code like this,” I said. “The protections he had on this file were smart. Adaptive. One wrong move and it’d alert Aiden to an intrusion, plus learn my technique to shut me out permanently. I had to invent the code to crack this thing, Val.” Blowing out a breath, I drew the laptop to us. “Patenting it will bring us from ridiculously wealthy to obscenely wealthy. Adam’s getting diamond-studded sneakers for his birthday.”
She laughed. “I don’t know about Adam, but Mommy wouldn’t mind some diamonds.”
Despite myself, I grinned. No matter the circumstance, Val lit up my worst days. “I’ll get you a whole truckload. It’ll make up for what I found.”
Her cheeriness leeched away. “It’s blackmail, isn’t it?” she croaked. “All of the secrets he collected, used to silence people like he did with Ezra and get rid of them like Sawyer. It’s the only reason I can think of for why Sawyer refuses to admit he was hauled off in that van against his will.”
“No— I mean, yes.” I tapped the pad, bringing up the file. “The secrets he collected on the Sams are in here,” I confirmed. “But what he’s doing with the information isn’t. And that’s the only thing that’s not in here.”
“What does that mean?”
I navigated to a tab labeled “freshmen” and a list of names rolled down the screen. I clicked one at random and leaned back for Val to read.
She squinted at the information—face wrinkled with curiosity, then confusion, then shock, and finally the emotion I settled on: horror.
“What the fuck is this?!”
“Notes,” I said. “Pages and pages of detailed notes on every freshman in the Sam house. Eating habits, sleeping habits, weight loss, weight gain, grades, study habits, classes, friends, family, background, career plans, and how they respond to different situations.”
Val’s cheeks drained of color as I rattled off the list.
“It’s not just the freshmen,” I continued. “He’s got a file on everyone in the Sam house and look at this.” I clicked a folder labeled training camp. “That trip you and Ezra went on—where you ran the obstacle course. Read some of the things he wrote.”
“Davidson paused and looked back when his opponent fell,” she read. “Nicolas climbed with perfect technique. Nathan didn’t throw the race to let his girlfriend win. Jose showed anger after his loss.” Val turned to me. “I don’t understand this. It was a friendly game over who’d pay for spring break vacations. All he needed to write down was who won or lost. Why would he record all of this? Why pay attention to who looked back or got angry?”
“You mentioned that Leighton and Aiden seemed intent, huddled together over their clipboards and talking in hushed tones. That obstacle race was clearly about more than who won the bet. He calls it a training camp.”
“Training for what?” she asked, mostly to herself.
Valentina clicked back to the freshmen folder. She fell silent as she scanned the info and then looked through the other grades as well. “Pledge points,” she spoke up.
“What?”
“Most of this is the criteria Aiden said he uses to assign pledge points, but this is on a stalker-level scale. The stuff that he’s dug up on these guys. Not just one secret. He has all the secrets. Dirt that would put them and their families six feet under.”
“He’s hacking them,” I said. “Maybe even tapping phones.”
“It doesn’t say what he does with the information except for one or two cases.” She pointed. “Look. Aiden discovers one of the guys’ fathers is in possession of child porn and he anonymously reported it to the police.”
“What’s the guy’s name?”
“Donald Seward.”
I quickly looked him up. “Yeah, I’ve got a record of his arrest.”
“There’s another guy he found out was taking up-skirt shots of unsuspecting girls. Says he was dropped from the Sams and another anonymous message was sent to the dean. Seems like Aiden is capable of doing the right thing.”
“Don’t raise your opinion of him yet, Val.” I pulled up a chair, sitting next to her. “He discovered Brian was being threatened by the Sons of Slaughter and he wasn’t moved to report that. He blackmailed Ezra to keep his mouth shut.”
She nodded, lips pursed. “If he’s making a habit of blackmail, there’s nothing in here about it. No records of payments or favors. All there is are checkmarks next to the secrets that will be used to test loyalty.”
“But it can’t just be about that,” I argued. “Tracking what they eat and searching out gang connections is bigger than getting into a silly fraternity. What does all of this look like to you?”
“Sleeping habits. Grades rising or falling while in the Sams. Tracking their health and stamina through the physical requirements. Honestly... if I didn’t know better, I’d say these were files you’d keep on lab rats.”
I bobbed my head, observing the dozens of tabs holding even more names. “I had the same disturbing thought.”
“Do you think this information is going to someone? The they Aiden spoke about in the basement. I can’t believe he woke up one day and decided to do all of this for shits and giggles.”
“That’s even more disturbing.”
“Who would want to know these things?” she asked. “What do they do with it?”
I lifted my shoulders. “It’s possible that Aiden doesn’t record payments or favors because someone else is collecting.”
“That would explain the digging for secrets. Not all of this other stuff. It’s like the guys are in an unknown contest for who is the number one Sam.”
I met her eyes. “I’m betting it’s not just the guys.”
“You think Leighton was keeping a file like this?”
“She dug into your lives like Aiden Connelly does. She had mysterious friends like Aiden as well.”
“Maybe the same friends,” she mused. “This doesn’t explain why they covered up a murder for her. What were they getting out of their relationship with her that disposing of a body is a fair exchange? And she didn’t doubt that they would. That night, she was calm and cool. The three of them came with me ready and willing to kill Logan, and Leighton said her friends would clean it up like it was a given. Almost like they’d done it before.”
My fists balled. “It’s frustrating that we still don’t know enough to answer that. Six months and all I’ve confirmed is what we already know: Aiden has an ulterior motive behind everything he’s doing. What that motive is, we still have no clue.”
Val rubbed my forearm. “We haven’t gone through everything. There may be something here. Did you read the notes he kept on Sawyer Burn?”
“The first thing I looked at after I realized what this was. Aiden has the same details on him that he does on the other guys. They go up to the night he disappeared, but there’s nothing on where he was taken, why, or by whom. It’s not even mentioned. The final entry is a note on his improved running times.”
She blew out a breath. “It’d be too much to ask that he offer up the incriminating evidence. All right, send me all of this, please.” Val got to her feet. “The only way to go from here is to confront him with his stalker profiles. I can’t wait to see him try to talk his way out of this.”
“What? Val, no.” I darted up and intercepted her at the door. “You can’t tell him we got into his file.”
“Why not?”
“Because of what you just said. Those files are disturbing but we don’t have anything we can take to the police. There’s no proof he’s blackmailing anyone. We can’t even argue that he’s protecting dangerous people because he reports the worst things he finds. All Aiden has to say is he’s overzealous about ensuring the Sams remain up to standards and the cops will wave him out of the door.”
“Then he can try giving that explanation to me. I’ll watch his face as he spins bull about the president needing to know how many calories our brothers and sisters eat. He can fool everyone else but he can’t fool me.”
Val made to sidestep me. I moved in sync with her.
“More reason why you can’t say anything.” I gripped her shoulders, drawing her into my worried gaze. “Aiden went to extreme lengths to hide those records. He might be able to offer an innocent explanation to everyone else, but he knows you’re onto him. Ezra connected him to Sawyer’s disappearance. He overheard him say other people were involved, and now we’ve found this file. Whoever they are, they have no problem with making people disappear, and if they find out you know too much, they’ll decide you’re next.” I pulled her to my chest. “I’m not letting that happen.”
She rested her head on my chest. “Okay, then what do we do?”
I couldn’t temper my relief at her agreement. I prepared myself to put in hours of convincing. I said as much. “I thought you’d fight me harder on this.”
“I can fully admit that we have no idea what we’re dealing with. We don’t know who, why, or how far this goes. Jade Ortega was off living her life free of the Sallys, but when Leighton died, she was quick on the scene to keep the house in line. I’ve never seen anyone more satisfied with themselves than she was the night of the charity dinner. She threw my accusations in my face and slammed home that I wasn’t seeing the bigger picture.
“The fact is we’re dealing with someone or someones who are clever, resourceful, and a few steps ahead. How do we catch up?”
“Tonight we’ll comb through the entire file. There could be something we missed. From now on—and I know I’ve said this before—keep your distance from Aiden Connelly.”
“Maverick—”
“Hear me out,” I asked.
It took her a sec, but she nodded.
“You’ve watched him for two years and he hasn’t given up a clue to who he’s working with,” I said. “We haven’t even found them in his hidden file and I’m not counting on a second look turning up their names. He’s too careful. Aiden isn’t going to offer up a way in. But you know who might, Teagan and Sawyer. They were both taken—for all that they deny it. They’re the ones we need to pay attention to. Find out where they’ve truly been.” I rubbed her back. “Stick close to Teagan. If she’s being threatened to keep quiet, she may eventually open up to a friend. To you.”
Val hummed. “That’s code for sit back, hang out, and do nothing.”
“See how well you know me.”
A breathy laugh escaped her. “I do have to remember Sawyer and Teagan are the victims in all of this. That file alone proves Aiden, or they, collect plenty of ammo to keep people in line. Aiden forced Ezra to keep quiet about the Sams. Teagan could be under the same pressure.”
“We will figure out what the hell is going on and put a stop to it. I promise.”
She squeezed me tight. “I know we will.”
VALENTINA
“All this stuff is making my head spin. I don’t know what to think anymore.” Sofia stopped in front of a stable. A long muzzle and tawny head poked over the door, sniffing out the treats in her pocket. Sofia murmured to the horse as she passed over the last of her apple slices.
I moved to the other side, gently running my fingers through her mane. The weekend brought a trip to the Richards Estate and a visit with Adam’s horse. He and Madeline were in the stall a few doors down. He wasn’t old enough to ride her yet, but Madeline was happy to start teaching him how to care for her.
I wished I could enj
oy a lazy day with my son and best friend, but the conversation inevitably returned to the Sallys.
“Teagan came back like nothing happened,” Sofia went on. “If she went through a traumatic experience, she’s hiding it better than I’ve ever seen. Could we have been wrong? Is it possible she was home coping with her mother’s death and cut everyone off to deal?”
“I want to believe that, and I would if not for what Ezra overheard in the basement. One of the guys was freaking out over pretending Teagan didn’t exist. Why would you have to pretend a girl grieving for her late mother didn’t exist?”
“That’s true,” she said under her breath. “Plus, there’s no good explanation for tossing a guy in the back of a van and speeding off into the night. Did you and Maverick find anything that could help on Aiden’s laptop?”
Sofia knew about our digging. I was keeping her up to date on everything.
“We went through the file twice, found out more than I ever wanted to know about the Sams of Nu Alpha, and none of it proved a thing other than Aiden’s a dirt-digging creep. That much we knew already.”
Sofia dusted off her hands, dropped a kiss on Peaches’s nose, and linked arms with me, strolling through the stable. “Was the dirt in Sawyer’s file bad enough that he’d keep his mouth shut about what really happened?”
I stiffened.
Aiden was meticulous in all things. Sawyer’s file included the names of the adult films his father made in college, along with the locations of the VHS copies. The details of his teacher mother accepting bribes to change her students’ grades were exact down to the parents who were able to meet her price. And that Sawyer broke down and cheated himself, buying a term paper in his freshman year.
If they did threaten him, swearing that he’d be kicked out of college, his mother would never work in another school, and the world would find out his father went bottoms up in a backyard gang bang, then that was decent incentive.
“That bad, huh?” Sofia asked softly.
“Bad enough.” It wasn’t the most shocking of the secrets I’d read, but that didn’t mean he wanted it to get out. “I just wish I knew the truth. Why is Aiden keeping those notes? Is he doing it on someone else’s orders? How do we find out the truth if Teagan won’t talk to us?” I shook my head. “It’s awful walking into the Sally house and wondering who will be next to disappear.”