Page 46 of Hide and Seek

“So, what were you up to?” Jace asks, his tone dripping with fake innocence. “Enjoying an evening stroll? Perhaps doing some sightseeing in the Boondocks?”

“Fuck off,” I repeat and strip off my jacket. “Why are you here?” I ask Xave, ignoring my brother and his stupid, knowing grin.

He flops down on the couch in the center of the room and kicks his feet up on the coffee table. “That’s the greeting I get after traveling all day to spend time with my favorite cousin?”

“Ahem,” Jace fake coughs.

“Second favorite cousin,” Xave corrects. “And quickly dropping,” he adds pointedly.

“I’m devastated.” I toss my jacket over my desk chair. “But that doesn’t answer why the fuck you’re here and not spending the week with Layan like you were planning.”

He waves one hand dismissively and slides down against the back of the couch. “She got back together with her boyfriend.”

“That’s never stopped you before,” Jace says with a smirk.

“Nope.” He shoots Jace a grin. “And it won’t stop me in the future. But there’s no challenge when I don’t have to work for it. No challenge, no fun.”

“Hear, hear,” Jace agrees.

“So were you off watching your favorite show?” Xave asks me.

“What?” I shoot him a confused look.

“The hacker kid show. I heard you never miss an episode.”

“If you’re asking if I went to check on my mark, yes, I did,” I tell him.

“Mark,” Jace says with a snicker. “Is that what we’re calling him?”

“What else would we call him?” I try to sound casual, but even I can hear the tension in my voice.

Jace knows I’ve spent an ungodly amount of time watching Myles both in person and over the cameras, but I didn’t think Xave picked up on things too.

“I don’t know,” Jace says, his eyes wide with fake innocence. “But it seems you’re getting a bit, I don’t know,emotional, right now. Hmmmmm?”

I shoot him an unamused look.

“Am I wrong?”

I don’t answer, which is answer enough.

“Wanna know what I found out about your new favorite person?” Xave asks, that shit-eating grin back on his face. “Because I found something I know neither of you did.”

“What?” Jace and I both ask together.

“Did you know your boy was kidnapped a few years ago?”

“What?” I did a thorough deep dive on Myles; I should have known about that.

“When?” Jace asks.

“Three years ago now.”

“What happened?” I ask him at the same time Jace asks, “How did you find this out?”

“I found an article in his student file.”

“There are no articles in his file,” Jace says quickly. “I have his student file, and there’s no article about a kidnapping in it.”