Page 98 of Peaceful Chaos

"Javier, do you have any investigators that can search around the internet and see what comes up?" Arthur starts strategizing.

"If I may," Holbrook intrudes. "I'm sure Javier has great resources and personnel, but Sin is the best I've ever seen. Let him do it."

"Jackson?" Arthur's mouth pops open. "I'm sorry, I mean Sin. You're a hacker?"

My heart thuds. A strange feeling makes my pulse race. The tone of pride in his voice fills me with confusion. I didn't think I'd be affected by having him be proud of me.

Raven senses where my mind is at and speaks up for me. "Sin is a genius. Damien tried to keep him ignorant. Nothing more than a tool for him to wield. He taught himself more than I learned at my fancy boarding schools. I've only found one thing he's not very good at."

"What is that?" my father asks.

Lucien and Raven share a look, and their lips twist in amusement. "Cook," they say in unison. Not for the first time, if it weren't for the difference in their ages, I'd believe they were twins.

"Like you're any better," I grumble, but I'm not really upset.

"Oh, I'm horrible. Thank God for Jen and Amber or we'd all starve," she agrees.

Carina smiles at me. "While I'm very proud and not surprised to hear how smart you are, we don't need you to go to that trouble."

"Darling," Arthur catches her attention. "We do need this intel."

She blinks, and I see through her veneer of society wife. I wonder if my father does. Carina Whitmore has a spine of steel and is more cunning than a fox.

"Funny how donning a pretty dress and covering yourself in glittering jewels actually makes people overlook you. It's amazing what you can hear when you're treated like the scenery," Carina muses.

"My sister, the spy. Father always says you're the most devious of all of us. Don't delay for dramatic effect, tell us what you know," Javier says. It appears I’m not the only one who sees her clearly.

She sighs and rolls her eyes. "There have been rumors for years that Raymond Pierce, the DA's husband, has had numerous affairs. That's not unusual among that set, but there've been more whispers of him having young lovers. Again, not unusual. But, when you combine those things and the frequent trips he used to make to Thailand, that makes one wonder."

Lucien sets his fork down and pulls out his phone. "Motherfucker!" he shouts and hands me his phone. I take a look at the picture he's pulled up, and we lock eyes.

Carina doesn't seem surprised at Lucien's outburst. "I'm guessing you are confirming that Raymond Pierce is a client of Damien Blackthorne?"

"How did you know? I mean like you said, there are any number of people in society who don't value their wedding vows. Trips to Thailand isn't definitive evidence of someone patronizing sex traffickers," I point out.

"True," she agrees. "But he had a very tense argument with Damien last night as soon as he arrived, so I made an educated guess."

"Did you grab Damien's blackmail files when you went in for the insurance videos you hid in the server?" I ask Lucien.

"I grabbed a lot of shit. Financials, my files, and anything Damien had tried to hide better than other files. I haven't had a chance to look through all of it yet. I only confirmed my files downloaded."

"Lucien will go and check after we finish up here," Javier takes over the discussion, shooting Lucien a look warning him not to make a smart-ass comment. When Lucien doesn't act out, he returns his attention to the entire table. "Now that we have a basic idea of how Damien managed to manipulate the DA, we still need to figure out how we're going to push him out of hiding in a way that isn't connected to Arthur."

The look he gives me is apologetic, and I know he's going to bring up using Raven as bait. "His extreme reaction to Raven last night makes us believe he'll take any risk to get a chance at taking her. His misogyny won't allow her to best him, so he won't stop to rationalize if it's a trap."

"That's making a lot of assumptions. What I'm hearing is that Damien is desperate and therefore more dangerous," I argue like I had last night.

"I agree with Ja—Sin," Arthur interrupts. "I don't like the idea of risking my daughter-in-law at all, especially for such a flimsy plan." Well, that is unexpected.

Raven studies me, and I hold my breath waiting for her to agree to recklessly endanger her life. "I have to agree with them. I don't see a plan here, just a hope that we can force him out. Where are we supposed to set up? Am I just going to walk around in public for him to take me? How exactly is that a trap, aside from me being trapped that is?"

"David has made contact with Antonio Padilla," Javier says, and Carina's head snaps up. "I know, and I don't like it either. I'm going to do everything I can to bring him in too."

"Does Antonia know?" she whispers.

Javier shakes his head. "No, I'm going to go and visit her after this is over. Maybe you'd like to go with me?"

She looks at me. "Maybe you and Raven would like to come too and meet your cousin?"

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