Page 121 of Conrad

Oh.“I . . . I think I’ve found the right man.” The words spilled out, soft, testing.Yes.

Tia cocked her head. “Pen . . . I heardMorning Brew. And it’s all over social media. I mean, you even came out and said that you two were over.”

She had—oh, that’s right,she’d texted Clarice. “Yeah, I know. But . . . don’t believe everything you read on the internet.”

Really.Because she knew Conrad, right?

“One must seek the truth within—not without.”

Yes, she knew him. He was the real deal. No games. No fake dating. He’d been beside her when he didn’t have to be.

The kind of boyfriend who stuck around, even when trouble circled her.

“By the way, in the end, Edward was right. Quantex did end up investing in Edward’s program. He had sold it to a company called MetaGrid, who then dumped it after he died. Declan Stone picked it up but sold shares to Quantex to finance it.”

“Yeah, that was the DOD company that Edward talked about. I remember him telling Franco and Sarah and me about it at dinner a few weeks before we broke up. Franco was weirdly mad that Dad didn’t acquire Axiom for Quantex, because that had been Edward’s plan. I had tried to talk him out of it, but he wanted Dad to have the first shot at it.”

“Quantex made millions when they invested in Spectra, who finally acquired Axiom.” Her sister slid onto a stool, sipped her coffee.

“How do you know that?”

“Seriously? Do you not read your quarterly stock reports?”

Oops.

“Yeah. In fact, Quantex was losing the AI race until they invested in Spectra. Edward’s mother inherited all of Edward’s stock, and she didn’t have a clue what to do. I think Dad hooked her up with Stone, who bought the company.”

“Why didn’t Quantex simply buy it?” Penelope asked.

“It violated an antitrust act for them to have controlling shares in two AI companies that would create a monopoly on the market.”

“Wow, Miss Economics Degree.”

“It was in the report.” Tia winked. “Stone’s company owns the majority of Axiom shares.”

“So, what happened to Inga’s shares when she died?”

“I don’t know. She has no living kin except Vincent, so?—”

“Vincent. Dad’s old bodyguard?” Penelope said.

“Oh, they had a longtime fling—did you not know this? Edward was sworn to secrecy, but with Vincent a single dad and Inga a single mother . . . Franco and Edward were practically brothers. Closer even than Franco and his own brother.”

“Marcus, right? I only met him once.”

“He lived with their mom, so he was never around. He’s a couple years older than Franco. I met him once, in college. Franco and I used to see each other on campus sometimes. We actually took a class together. Anyway, his brother looks just like him, dark hair, blue eyes, built. I think Marcus went into law enforcement, or maybe security. I admit, I was a little surprised when Franco ended up back here. I always thought he’d be an investment banker or something.”

“Why?”

“His degree was in finance. Or at least it was going to be. He dropped out of school his senior year. Showed up a couple years later working here.”

“And just in time to follow me to college.”

“At least he was cute.” Tia slid off the chair. “Could have been worse. You could have had Geoffrey.” She set her mug in the sink. “For the record, I liked King Con. I thought you two were cute together.”

We were cute together.

No, they were more than cute. They worked. Even when they’d been fake dating, it had worked.

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