Page 54 of Christmas in the Shadows

He glanced at his phone again.

If he were to contact them, who would he start with?

One face came to mind. Aiden Bennett. Aiden had been a year older than Tex and a member of the football team. In some ways, Aiden had been a mentor to Tex.

He stopped hesitating, found Aiden’s number, and gave him a call.

His friend answered on the second ring.

“Hey, it’s Tex. I know it’s been a long time, but you came to mind today, and I wanted to see how you were doing.”

“Tex? Now that’s a name I haven’t heard in a while. How you doing, man?”

“Doing pretty well, all things considered.” He stared up at Gilbert’s house as he continued to stand outside, a rock forming in his gut. “You’ll never believe where I am. I’m actually back here in Holly Ridge.”

He explained the situation—some of it, at least.

“Wait . . . you said Gilbert invited you?” Aiden let out a chuckle. “Nowthat’snot something I thought I’d ever hear. I figured once we were gone, he wanted nothing more than to forget about us.”

They chatted a few more minutes. It turned out that Aiden was now a bridge engineer who worked mainly on government projects.

“It sounds like things are going well for you,” Tex said.

“Yeah, I can’t complain.”

Something in his voice made Tex pause. “You sure everything is good?”

“Yeah, I’m sure. Just . . . there’s some stuff going on.”

“What kind of stuff?” Tex knew his friend probably wouldn’t answer, but he asked anyway.

“You remember back in high school when I broke into the principal’s office and changed some grades in the computer?”

Tex remembered that well. “I do.”

“You and I were the only ones who knew about it initially—until the principal checked some camera footage and figured it out. Then he got Gilbert involved.”

“But Gilbert had a talk with him, and they decided to keep it quiet in return for community service hours.” Tex recalled the incident.

“That’s what they said at the time. Well, I got this text from some unknown number. The sender said he was going to blast my secret publicly unless I did what he told me.”

Tex’s back tightened. “What?”

“I couldn’t believe it either. I freaked out. I didn’t know if it could affect my security clearance or not, but I didn’t want to take the chance.”

“What did he tell you to do?” Tex remained tense as he waited for his friend to continue.

“I had to leave some cash in a McDonald’s bag in a trashcan in Richmond. Five thousand dollars.”

“Did you do it?”

“I panicked,” Aiden admitted. “I left the money, and I haven’t heard from this extortionist since then. But I know I probably will. I could go to the police, but I really don’t want my past becoming public. I did too many things I wasn’t proud of. Breaking into the principal’s office was just the first. But I’ve turned my life around. People think I’m respectable now.”

Tex’s mind raced.

It sounded like the text he’d received. It couldn’t be a coincidence that both he and Aiden had received these blackmail requests. Had any of their other foster brothers received them?

He remembered what Lindsey said about Pete Lawson possibly dropping out of the senate race. He remembered the strange look he’d seen in Patrick’s eyes as they’d spoken.

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