Page 114 of End Game

“Former?”

“Unfortunately for Mr. Brighton, his response to his son’s juvenile stunt triggered my activism gene. He lost his reelection campaign.”

“Damn, girl.” Lena smiled. “Glad you’re on our team.”

“Everything has consequences. Even so-called righteous actions.”

Noticing everyone’s confused expressions, Liv jumped in. “The family’s finances collapsed, and Alexander didn’t return for his senior year.”

“Alexander might feel he has a score to settle,” Maddy said. “Natalie falls in love with him, putting your friendship and your firm at risk.”

“And kidnapping your mother,” Lena added.

“But why now? All that happened fourteen years ago. And how is this linked to Vicky’s murder?”

“Maybe it’s not,” Cilla said. “They could be separate incidents.”

“That’s a lot of bad luck in such a short amount of time,” Maddy said.

“Vicky was your godmother,” Liv said. “Another person close to you and someone who advanced your political ideals.”

“But Mason all but confirmed Seb Grimball killed Vicky.”

“Can you one hundred percent trust what Mason Wade told you?” Lynette challenged. “Should you?”

Kayla crossed her right arm over her middle and planted her left elbow on top, allowing her to drive her fingertips into her forehead. In the political arena, she thrived on strategizing offensive maneuvers to their opponents’ various points of attack. Loved anticipating their movements and delighted in their resulting failures.

But with this living nightmare, she couldn’t identify the enemy with any certainty and therefore wasn’t able to develop a counterattack plan.

Liv approached and placed a warm palm on her shoulder. “How about we take this one step at a time?”

“That’s the thing,” Kayla said, her voice raw. “I don’t know which direction to go first. There seems to be an infinite number of options.”

Lena appeared on her other side and snaked her arm in the crook of Kayla’s. “It’s good there are six fabulous brains here to help you figure this out.”

She lifted her head, realizing these women weren’t here to just help her through a difficult patch. They were here for the long haul.

Emotion garbled her words. “Any suggestions?”

Grams looked at her daughter-in-law. “Clay?”

Lynette clicked her phone to sleep. “Just sent him a text.”

“Step taken,” Grams said. “Clay will look into this Alexander Brighton’s background and see what he says when he thinks no one is listening.”

Part of the Rios family, who had kept the estate running well before any Blackwell stepped foot on the property, Clay Neuman had become an essential element of the BARS team by taking over Zeke’s duties in the field, allowing the CEO to focus on the administrative side of the multimillion-dollar business.

But what made Neuman even more valuable was his ability to bounce around to different jobs, filling in for the guys at a moment’s notice.

Kayla focused on Grams’s words, on what she hadn’t said, and her stomach twisted. “Does that mean Neuman’s going to bug his place?”

“That would be illegal,” Grams said.

Which was neither a yes or no.

“I don’t want anyone getting in trouble or hurt on my account.”

“Your problem is our problem, Kayla Krowne.” Steady brown eyes bored into hers, and Kayla could see the matriarch’s resolve.

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