Page 17 of Surprise Baby for the Enemy

All I know is that, thanks to my presence, the Warwicks have become responsible for wiping out a number of Silver’s men, if not Silver himself. If they’re able to rebuild at all, they might retaliate. It wasn’t my fault that I got involved in this mess, but I am, and I can’t just take a back seat knowing I can help clean this up.

And then there’s Derrick, who might or might not be working with Silver against us. Even if he isn’t, he’s been a thorn in my brother’s side long enough. Thomas might’ve shown him mercy, but that’s not an arrangement I’m obliged to honor.

I owe him nothing, except payback in my brother’s name.

That’s it. I’ll get rid of Silver.

And Derrick? Last time, I didn’t get the chance to destroy his life. That plan got crushed before it even took off. But this time, I won’t fail.

I owe him that much.

CHAPTER 10

Raleigh

Before anything else,I need intel. For that, I can rely on Tommy and Iris’s thorough filing habits.

Thomas’s office door is locked when I reach it, which is good news. It means Iris isn’t currently working inside. With one of my bobby pins, I jimmy the lock open and slip inside, locking the door behind me for safe measure.

There arefartoo many filing cabinets in here, but that’s my brother for you. Before I start breaking into drawers, I check the desk, hoping there might be some current report on Silver or Derrick sitting there.

Instead, I find five handwritten letters on crisp white stationary. They’re laid out in measured cursive- and every one of them seems to be a threat by some people claiming to be Warwicks in London.

Weird. Our family did originate in London, but we traveled to the States before I was even born. And to my knowledge we didn’t leave anyone behind. It sounds like a scam to me, but Iris has clearly been paying attention to them. She’s filled a page in her notepad, sitting off to the side of the desk, with her research on whoever these London Warwicks are. Names, like Achilles and Fantasia, have been underlined.

Whatever, this isn’t why I’m here. There aren’t any other papers left on the desk, so I turn to the filing cabinets and start picking open locks. Unfortunately for me, Thomas has organized these by some completely indecipherable system. I break open drawer after drawer of files, and find labeled folders that seem to have nothing to do with each other. It’s only now, as I flip through useless papers after useless paper, that I realize my hands are trembling.

I had nothing but iced latte in my stomach and adrenaline is the only thing holding me up right now.

I’m about to give up and go find some food when I finally stumble over Derrick’s file. I tear it out of the drawer and flip it open, hoping beyond hope that there’s updated information in here. I could destroy his reputation before I even think about ending him. All it takes is finding proof- maybe his dirty dealings with the Speares or the bribes he’s taken- and leaking it to the media. This is going to be a piece of cake.

Sure enough, it seems like Iris has been keeping an extra close eye on him in the months since I was rescued. There are notes on hisdailymovements, for Chrissakes. That makes me feel kind of mushy, but I push that aside and refocus.

He’s moved since the abduction. I don’t blame him, I guess. I wouldn’t want to stay in a house that I’d been dragged out of by a bunch of masked freaks. That being said, it would be strange if he were working with Silver, but also running from him.

Then again, when has Derrick ever done anything in a straightforward way?

I skim over the file, my eyes catching on the things he spends every day doing. Walking or running with his dogs twice a day. Going on patrols, even late into the night, which he doesn’t need to do anymore now that he’s sheriff. Collapsing into bed at all hours, only to get up early to run with the dogs again. Groceryshopping, occasionally sitting down to watch some TV, making smoothies in his kitchen.

There’s nothing in here about bringing a woman home, or even going out to see a woman.

Wait, why the fuck am I worried about that?!

I snap Derrick’s file shut and stuff it back into the drawer, possibly in the wrong place, but I don’t care. It literally doesn’t matter whether Derrick is single or having an orgy every night. That’s not a factor right now, and it never will be.

He has never, and will never, have a place in my life.

I go back to hunting through drawers, focusing exclusively on any mention of Silver. At last I find his file. My mind stills when I see his moniker, written between big parentheses, in Iris’s neat, blocky script.

For the last three months, I’ve wondered if he was alive. I could’ve asked Iris at any point, but I shut down every attempt by Iris to discuss the abduction, and finally, she stopped trying to talk to me about it. Now, I’ll have definitive confirmation of whether or not Silver is alive. Derrick might be hunting doppelgangers, but I trust Warwick intel, and I trust Iris’s thoroughness. She’ll know, and she’ll have recorded it in this file.

Taking a shaky breath, I open the file. At the top of the first page, detailing all known facts about Silver’s identity, the word “ALIVE” sits in bold black letters.

I swallow hard, but the lump in my throat makes it painful.

He survived Paul and Iris’s sweep of the house. He got away, and he’s been rebuilding his following ever since.

Unfortunately, the intel here is much less robust than what Iris has on Derrick. Apparently Silver has been taking full advantage of his signature look and really has been using lookalikes to do his dirty work. He’s begun sweeping through old Speare territory, territory we’ve yet to reclaim, and begun bringing local businesses under his heel by threatening themwith violence if they don’t pay him tribute. If they refuse, his symbol, a triangle with a jagged bottom line, is left on the wall, and the building is burned out by the next day.

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