Page 63 of Bound By Secrets

“What if she can’t handle it?” Nate asks quietly.

“Then we will all be there to help her handle it.”

Kat sighs and reluctantly moves away from the door to pick up the paper I threw. She places it on top of the ones she’s already holding and then hands them over to me.

“This is the right thing to do,” I reiterate as I walk out of the room with the twins trailing behind me.

“I hope you’re right.” Nate’s words have doubt creeping into my mind about what I’m about to do, and as I start descendingthe staircase, I hear Callie’s and Brad’s laughter filtering through the house.

I hope I’m right too.

Chapter Thirty-One

Callie

"Ithink I should’ve stayed upstairs. I’m too much of a distraction for you,” Brad mutters, his breath fanning across the side of my face as his body brushes against mine. Giggling, I push away from him and walk over to my father’s desk, putting the paperwork I’m holding into the junk pile that we’ve created.

“You are distracting, I’ll agree to that, but I’m glad you came downstairs. I feel bad that you’ve all taken the day off of college to come over here and sort through all of this.”

“We could take a break after we’ve all eaten, maybe go and do something fun,” he suggests as he removes more folders from one of the cabinets that line the walls.

“I wish we could, but I don’t trust that he’ll be gone for long. Especially if he’s left something here that may be incriminating or important, so we should keep looking.” I huff and drop into the brown leather chair behind the desk, pulling another stack of papers onto my lap.

Brad walks over and wiggles the mouse, bringing the computer to life. I roll my eyes and lightly smack his hand away.

“Don’t touch that. Ryker and the twins are figuring out the passcode, and then they’re going to go through it.”

“You won’t let me do anything apart from taking files out of the drawers, this isn’t any fun,” he whines. I roll my eyes and try to stop myself from laughing at this grown man acting like a child.

I lose the battle when he huffs loudly and slumps down in the chair opposite me with an exaggerated frown on his face. I start laughing so hard that I snort. Brad stares at me with wide eyes, amusement spreading across his face as he too begins to laugh.

“You just snorted! No way!” He chokes out through bouts of laughter, throwing himself backwards in the chair.

The sound of someone clearing their throat from the doorway diminishes our laughter. Lifting my gaze, I find Ryker standing there with a grim expression on his face.

“What’s wrong?” I ask, lifting myself out of the chair and walking over to him. “Have you found something?”

He nods gravely. “Let’s go into the living room. Connor and Callum are just pulling up now, and I need to talk to you all together.”

I frown, narrowing my eyes at him and I feel my muscles tense when he avoids looking at me, shaking his head before turning and walking away.

Brad comes up behind me, lightly wrapping his muscular arms around my slim frame.

“Come on, cutie. I’ll be right beside you.” He places a soft kiss against my bruised cheek and takes a hold of my hand, interlacing our fingers together. “I’m sure it’ll be okay.”

As we walk out of the room together, coasting down the hallway, I hear the front door slam shut.

“Dinner has arrived!” Callum calls out, snickering to himself afterwards.

When Brad and I turn the corner into the kitchen, I spot Nate and Kat sitting together in the living room on the cream-coloured three-seater. When they notice me staring at them, they look away from me, choosing to look at the floor instead.

Why is everyone being so weird?

As Callum and Connor stroll into the room with bags of McDonald's in their hands, everyone seems to busy themselves with an unnecessary task.

Ryker takes Callum's bags and begins emptying the contents, one at a time, onto the glass table in the centre of the room. Nate grabs the drinks from Connor and places them on the table as well, taking his time to put a straw through each plastic lid. Meanwhile, Kat stares at the TV, scrolling through Netflix.

“What’s going on?” Connor asks, his face scrunched in confusion as he observes the scene before him.

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