Page 56 of After All The Wreckage

As I picked around the internet, searching for them, I realized someone had done a more than decent job of cleaning up their digital footprints. Some of the sites I normally used to find out about people had been scrubbed clean. An ugly feeling rose in the back of my throat. I recognized this code. I knew it like the back of my hand because my mother had taught it to me… just like she’d taught my dad.

One of them had done this. One of my parents knew Dunn. Worked for him, even.

Dunn wasn’t an on-the-book client of Mom’s. If she’d worked for him, it had been like she’d been working for the Space Force—without my knowledge. But it was Dad who was better known for cozying up to politicians.

When I’d closed the backdoor into Bishop Investigations, I’d had every intention of never logging in again, but now I had to risk it. It took me a bit longer to break Dad’s firewall this time. He’d added extra encryption and a wildly complicated trip wire. But eventually, I got in. And sure enough, there was a file on Representative Roland Dunn. I didn’t know him, but Dad did.

A bitter taste filled my mouth as Dad’s voice from Friday morning came back to me. He’d been talking to a Roland when I’d walked into his office, hadn’t he? What had he said? Something about taking care of it? Having it handled? I hadn’t registered it. I’d been too worried about asking for a loan.

Too goddamn emotional.

Dad had placed the files on Roland under extra encryption, and that was even more surprising than the ones at his backdoor. It was going to take me hours of running code to try tobreak it. Even then, it might be impossible without knowing the key.

My phone buzzed with a call. I glanced over at it with every intention of ignoring whoever it was until I saw Dad’s name. Shit. Had I tripped a secondary alarm? Whoever was doing Dad’s IT work now was damn good if I hadn’t seen it.

DAD: If you keep breaking into my system, I’m going to have to start charging you for the information.

Fuck! I’d back out, but it was pointless now.

ME: If I had a dad who was honest with his daughter, I wouldn’t have to break in.

DAD: What do you want with Dunn?

Double fuck. He’d watched every keystroke I’d made.

ME: Who’s running your coding now?

DAD: The person you misjudged sitting at my front desk.

Chanel? Chanel in her designer stilettoes and perfect hair was his computer security analyst? My fingers slowed on the keys. I’d thought maybe she was sleeping with my father, not locking down his computers. Ihadmisjudged her. I hated that almost as much as I hated that I’d tripped her silent alarm.

DAD: I answered you. Only fair you answer me. What do you want with Dunn?

No way was I answering him. Instead, I left his system and went to the dark web. I hid my research behind several VPNs and layers of encryption. I pulled everything I could about both West and Dunn from their births on. Elementary schools, high schools, colleges, club memberships, and early political careers were all dug up and sifted into my own secure file.

It wasn’t until I opened a list of Dunn’s campaign donors that my heart took a gigantic leap. Right there, halfway down the page, was Argento Skies, Inc.

My palms turned sweaty.

There were several things my mom had pounded into me while teaching me her craft. One was to trust your instincts, which I hadn’t always done lately, and the second was that there were no such things as coincidences. If you were in the thick of an investigation and threads started to overlap, there was a reason for it.

And now those threads were knotting around not only my parents but Gage’s family and Dunn all at the same time.

Acid curled through my gut.

My dad was clearly involved with Dunn. Had my mom been too? Had my dad known about what happened to Monte? Had he even orchestrated the kidnapping?

I shook my head. No. Dad was an asshole. He didn’t know how to maintain a relationship with anyone but his clients, but he wouldn’t stoop that low. He’d never be okay with kidnapping a thirteen-year-old.

I had to believe there were hard limits to what he’d do.

One thing was certain, I wouldn’t be able to rest until all these threads had been pulled. Until all the pieces were revealed. I just had to hope that when the truth came tumbling out, it wouldn’t give Gage and his family a real reason to hate me.

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

Gage

HEY JUDE