Page 131 of Fake Game

There’s a knock on my door.

I stare at it curiously. Parker doesn’t knock. Aleks would knock, but then he’d walk straight in, not even waiting a beat after warning me.

“Yeah?”

“Come out, we need to talk.”

Phoebe?

I sit up and quickly change into a more comfortable pair of sweatpants before opening my door. She’s not standing there, so I head into the main area of the apartment.

Aleks is sprawled on the couch, and Phoebe is leaning against the wall next to the TV with her arms crossed. She doesn’t look mad, just bored.

Parker is pulling an HP energy drink out of the fridge, and he gestures to me. “Want anything?”

“Seriously?”

“None of this is the drink’s fault.”

I sigh, taking my place next to Aleks.

The man who has been accompanying Phoebe this entire time seems to materialize out of thin air, rounding the corner as he continues to survey the apartment. Strange dude.

“Parker, hurry the fuck up.”

“Chill, sis.” I hear the cracking of the can before Parker takes a loud sip.

He takes his sweet time walking over to the couch and sitting on the far end, tossing Aleks a bag of chocolate pretzels in the process.

“You may proceed.”

She rolls her eyes at him, letting out a deep huff before standing straight. “After thinking it over, I figured it was best towait to give you all this news separately so as not to alarm the girl.”

That doesn’t sound good.

“There was mirroring software on all of Deirdre’s devices.”

“What?” Parker sits up.

“Yes, I had my people go through her belongings after Sydney handed them over, and they found traces everywhere.” She tsks. “I mean, really, it was quite a pathetic show.”

“So, you think this is linked with the drugging or the swatting?”

“I’m not one hundred percent certain because when we tried to track the malware, we ran into issues, and I can’t exactly push the boundaries more than I already have without it becoming flat-out illegal.” She sighs, like this whole situation is a giant inconvenience. “But it’s my best guess that it’s all linked.”

I clench my teeth together as my fists ball up at my sides. Phoebe follows the movement but doesn’t show any change in her emotions.

“So, what does this mean?” Aleks leans forward.

“Well, while the local detectives are still looking into that girl from the expo, I already found her. I mean, I guess it’s better to say he did, but, same-same.” She throws her hand to the side, signaling to the man who has been following her like a shadow. “Anyway, we’re going to do our own deep dive into her—but it seems she’s been brought into the whisper network of Deer Hunters, based on what we’ve found so far.”

“Fuck,” Aleks sighs. “How many people are there?”

Phoebe tilts her head to the side, a slight wince pulling at her lips. “A lot. That’s why it’s taking a little longer to get to the bottom of it without it being, well, really illegal. Paige keeps reiterating that the evidence needs to be clean to convict once we find the instigator.”

Paige Covington, the middle child and softer sister, is one of the top lawyers for the Covington conglomerate.

“So, where does that leave us, Pheebs? What do you need us to do?” Parker has that serious glint in his eye that he rarely lets out, the one that makes you realize why he was the original Covington heir.

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