Page 79 of Bound By Secrets

With that, we all walk into the kitchen, joining Callum. He hands each of us a coffee, and then we surround the island in the middle, everyone’s attention drawn to Nate.

“So, my dad rang earlier. They have a rough location on your father, uh, Derek. It’s hard to pinpoint him exactly because he’s constantly moving and he has a lot of help from other people who are covering his tracks, but their team is getting closer to finding him.”

I feel my shoulders slump in relief and a spark of hope flares inside me.

“He’s still with your Uncle Paul. My dad and his team have come up with a plan to use your Uncle Johnny.”

“What do you mean? How is Johnny going to help?”

“Well, they’re going to try and convince Derek or Paul that Johnny has something for them, information or weapons, something like that. They’re hoping that they will agree to meet with Johnny.”

I shake my head. “They won’t trust him, and if they do, he’ll be in danger!”

“He won’t be in any danger, Callie. He will have a whole team of trusted officers with him,” he assures.

Ryker wraps his arm around my waist and tilts my face up to his.

“I’m sure these guys are well trained. They’ll protect him. Besides, you know Johnny, he’ll be fine.”

“What about Cameron?” Connor asks, leaning his arms on the counter. “Have they managed to find him yet?”

Nate shakes his head. “They haven’t been able to find anything on him.”

“Well, they need to. He’s unhinged, and in my opinion, he’s more dangerous than my father. He’s always been strange, even when we were kids. If they catch Derek, Cameron would want to retaliate in some way.” Connor’s words send a fearful shudder through my body.

“Okay, I’ll talk to my dad about it.”

“Is our mum okay?” My heart clenches at the sound of Connor’s voice when he asks about our mother, so soft and vulnerable, so unlike him.

Nate nods, “Yeah, she’s okay. My dad is still staying with her and Crystal, as well as a few other people that he trusts. I promise you, he won’t let any harm come to either one of them.”

“Thank you, and thank your father for me as well. I really appreciate all of this.”

I watch as everyone’s brows rise in surprise, minus me and Callum, as they look over at Connor. He glances around at each face and then his lips tilt up in a half-smile.

“Are you shocked that I was nice or because I spoke a full sentence?”

Ryker sniggers beside me, Callum claps his hand on his twin's shoulder, and Kat, Nate and Brad look even more surprised than before.

“Oh my God! You smiled!” Kat squeaks, jumping up and down before running towards Connor and throwing her arms around him. Connor’s eyes widen with panic as Kat squeezes him, excitedly rambling on about how she knew that he liked them all and a laugh bubbles up my throat as I watch the awkward scene in front of me unfold.

Connor looks towards us, silently asking for help.

“Alright, Kitty Kat. Let go of the poor guy. We need to leave for college soon,” Brad says, walking over to them and peeling her away.

“Sorry, but I saw that as a breakthrough for him. I just got really happy about it… Are you guys coming to college today?”

Taking a sip of my coffee, I shake my head to answer her question.

“We’re still searching the house. We have a feeling that there’s something here that we’ve missed.” She frowns and huffs, then walks over to me, pulling me into a loose hug.

“I understand, but I’m going to miss you. These two mope around all day when you’re not there.” My eyes dart over her shoulder to Brad and Nate. Nate has a red tinge to his cheeks and Brad shrugs, smirking at me.

“We’ll be back to college soon. Also, we’re going shopping on Saturday, just us two, so you’ll have plenty of time with me.”

She squeezes me in a hug again whilst Brad mentions going to collect his bag from the car.

“I’ll need all the details about last night,” she whispers.

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