Page 65 of The Secrets We Bury

“The Scorpion hasn’t been able to find anything, though, has he?” Abel’s eyes slide to Lex as if he already knows who the Scorpion is.

I watch as Lex clenches his fingers into a tight fist. “So?” he grinds out through clenched teeth. “Did your perfect hacker find out where Denise Donovan is?”

“That’s what this meeting is about,” Viks says, recapturing my attention.

I flip my gaze up to his once more. “You have,” I guess.

His lips twist. “In a manner of speaking.”

“What the hell does that mean?” Lex barks. “Do you have her in custody or is she on the loose?”

“Calm down, man.” Abel yawns and lets the front of his chair slap the floor again. “She’s not going anywhere.”

“Fuck.” I blow out a long breath and bend forward, planting my elbows on the edge of the table as I let my head sink into my palms.

“What?” I can hear Lex’s confusion, but when neither Viks nor Abel says a word, I know I’m right.

“She’s dead.” It’s not so much of a guess as it is an affirmation. I meet Viks’ eyes again and he nods.

“Unfortunately, we believe Denise Donovan never truly left Silverwood.”

“So she’s been dead for months then?” Lex sits back in his seat and scrubs a hand down his face. “Fuck, Juliet’s going to be…”

He doesn’t need to finish the statement. She’s going to be wrecked. Even if Juliet had issues with her mother, the fact remains—parents are people you rely on from birth to the grave. Losing a shitty one doesn’t make it any easier. You still mourn; you just mourn who theycouldhave been versus who they actually were.

“How do you know?” I ask. “Did your hacker find proof?”

“It’s more of what she didn’t find,” Viks states, reaching into the bag he’d carried in with him. He removes a slim laptop and flips the screen up. Abel picks up his beer and takes a long swing as Viks types out something on the keyboard before swiveling it to face me.

“There’s no sign of the woman starting midway through the summer—June 28th, to be exact. There’s been no action on her credit cards, no tags on her license or passport. She hasn’t purchased a single thing and considering that her life before that date was filled with purchases that ranged from something as small as a coffee to a ten-thousand-dollar Birkin bag, I’d say shewasn’t the type of woman who didn’t know how to spend her money.”

“That’s not enough to prove she’s dead,” Lex says, narrowing his eyes on the screen. “She could’ve taken out credit cards in another person’s name. Changed her identity. Used cash.”

“Most of the world Mrs. Donovan was from was cashless,” Abel states casually. “She was a socialite. She didn’t need to carry around cash. All she had to do was write checks for charities and swipe her Amex. Plus, there are signs of someone preparing to take over another person’s identity.”

“If you don’t think she ever left Silverwood,” I begin, “then where would she have been when she died—she was staying with Morpheus Calloway before she disappeared. He would be stupid to kill her under his own roof.”

“Viksthinks she never left,” Abel clarifies, “but the hacker thinks she might have gotten out of town before she was killed, and I have to agree.”

“Where she was killed is irrelevant,” Viks says with a sigh. “It’s who killed her and hid the fact that I’m concerned with.” He leans forward and taps the screen of the laptop. “Because at the moment, they’re getting away with it—they might have already left the country.”

Lex remains quiet for a moment, his anger at Viks’ presence fading as he contemplates the puzzle before him. A framed millionaire. A dead socialite. An attempted assault and murder. All of it connected to one person.

Juliet.

“It’s not just bad luck that your girl has had so much shit go down,” Abel murmurs absently.

My eyes flick to him and then to Viks.He told him about Juliet?As if sensing my thoughts, Viks holds up his hands.

“Abel wouldn’t be here if I didn’t trust him,” Viks states. “Instead of focusing on my associates, it might be better for you to focus on who is after Juliet Donovan.”

Abel snorts. “Yeah, don’t worry about me, boys—besides, you should get used to seeing my face. I hear you’ll be seeing it a lot more soon.”

Even though I know I control my expression at his statement, Lex’s gives both of us away and Abel barks out a laugh, looking at Viks. “You didn’t tell them who I am?”

Viks huffs and retrieves the laptop, dragging it back towards him. “It wasn’t important at the time.”

Abel shakes his head before grinning towards both Lex and me. “I’m Abel Frazier,” he says, offering his full name as he holds out his hand to me. I take it and his grin widens. “Otherwise known as one of the Eastpoint Heirs, and I sit on the board for Eastpoint University. I’ll be the one getting the four of you into our infamous school.”