Page 8 of Corrupted

To those who did, he was filled with barely contained rage. His knuckles turned white. The vein in his forehead throbbed. He didn't say a word while Gianni and I told him what Leon said.

Everyone else in the room was equally silent, apart from the occasional mutter from the twins and gasps of surprise from Daze.

Damon and Caleb both sat in chairs, each as stony-faced as the other.

"That's horrendous," Daze said when we finished. She leaned against Ric, who insisted on coming with her, and closed her eyes. "If my father tried anything like that with me…" She shook her head.

Ric wrapped his arms around her and held her as if he could protect her from what she just heard. "This explains a lot. Including why we didn't know any of this. He had the funds to keep us from finding out." He glanced at me apologetically. Just because it made sense didn't make it right.

"He shouldn't have," Caleb snapped. "This shouldn't have gotten past our father. It shouldn't have gotten past us."

He looked at Reuben with an expression laced with accusation, but also with a touch of annoyance and fear. If anyone should have known what was going on after their father died, it was Caleb. If their father hadn't told Reuben anything, that was unfortunate. Caleb had five years to figure it out. He wasn't alone in that, but he clearly took it on his own shoulders. Or at least suspected he'd be blamed.

"It shouldn't, but it did," Reuben said simply. "Now we know. We can take steps to ensure it doesn't happen again. That isn't the most pressing concern at the moment." His gaze went to Daze and Ric.

"You didn't bring us here to fill us in on that, did you?" Daze asked. She glanced over to the twins who clearly hadn't given her or Ric a choice. That made her visibly nervous as hell.

"According to Leon Graves, Kurt is in Dusk Bay," Reuben said. "Do you know of his whereabouts?" He wasn't pulling any punches today.

Daze stared at him, then at me. "Of course not. You can't really think I'd… We'd keep that from you?"

"We don't want to think that," I said. I hated this. We were supposed to be on the same side, not accusing each other. I wanted to believe her and my cousin. I needed to, if only for my own sanity.

"Then don't," Daze replied. "We don't."

"But your concerns aren't with us," Ric said slowly. "You think someone who works for us might have some idea."

"Has anyone been behaving particularly twitchy lately?" Gianni asked.

"Apart from Caleb?" Hunter said. "But then, he's always twitchy."

Caleb gave him a dark look.

"Not that I can think of," Ric said. "That is to say, everyone's been on edge since we started digging into what Kurt was up to. We all feel responsible for everything. Me, Daze, Gunnar and Hilton, in particular."

Daze nodded her agreement. "We haven't been able to tell our people much, just that we're looking for him. Our concern might be somewhat contagious."

"Keep an eye out," Damon told her. "Someone knows something."

"Do you know anyone named Jase or Hammer?" I asked.

Ric looked contemplative, but ultimately shook his head. "I can't say either name rings a bell. That doesn't mean we don't know them."

"Did they…" Daze started carefully.

"They were there," I said simply. I didn't need or want to explain any further. Nor did I feel the need to explain that we got Martina's number from Leon's phone. We'd deal with her on our own.

Silence hung heavy in the air, finally broken by Caleb clearing his throat.

"From what I've been able to ascertain, Kurt either hasn't noticed, or doesn't care, that the account balance of most of his accounts is approximately sixty-nine cents each."

Parker grinned at having done that, transferring the money into different accounts Kurt couldn't access.

"Yes!" Gianni pumped the air. "Maserati, here I come."

"Can I have one too?" Hunter asked. "Parker and I would look good in matching Maseratis."

"If you can afford to buy them out of your own pocket," Reuben said.

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