Page 58 of Sin and Deception

"I'm going to check in with our team on the ground," he announced before heading to the back of the plane.

I sat there, my hands trembling as I considered the various possibilities of why Solon would suddenly show up.

First, they were here to explain their actions from two years ago to Xander and Theo. However, that seemed highlyunlikely. Solon operated as a "do what we want" organization that never clarified their decisions to anyone.

Secondly, one of the twins might have got into trouble at school. A college mishap was something manageable. What could be worse than Fiona publishing a romanticized version of my life without my consent?

But then there was the third option that terrified me the most. What if something had happened to the boys? They were our biggest vulnerability, the strongest leverage against us. My mind reeled at the thought of anyone reaching them before we could ensure their safety.

Xander stopped pacing to make a call and immediately shouted orders to whoever was on the other end. His urgency pushed me into action. We were close enough to Phoenix that I could call Mama.

With trembling fingers, I dialed her number and held my breath as it rang. However, it went to voicemail, and my heart sank. I tried two more times with the same outcome before ultimately leaving a desperate message.

"Mama, please call me back as soon as possible. It's an emergency."

Next, I reached out to Fiona with the same result. Chills ran down my whole body as pure, unadulterated fear seeped into every single one of my nerves.

Fiona always kept her phone on her and knew to respond with at least a text no matter where she was, even if it was a one-word message.

“Think, Nerine. Think,” I whispered, my head spinning. “Oh, fuck. The security system.”

I pulled up the app on my cell and logged onto the secured server monitoring cameras around Mama’s house.

“Shit, come on,” I muttered.

Why was it taking so long to load? I had Mama’s house equipped with a state-of-the-art system run over fiber optic wiring with a backup power source to keep everything active during a power outage for seventy-two hours.

“No, no, no, no, no,” I muttered when the signal pulled up and showed the word “offline.”

That fucking was impossible unless someone had tampered with my setup.

Solon installed it, dammit.

Nausea engulfed my stomach, and my heart pounded erratically and uncontrollably in my chest.

“I can’t log into the system at Mama’s house. My security is compromised. Everything is offline,” I said.

The stark expressions on both Theo and Xander’s faces told me they understood my concern. Xander relayed my information to the person on the phone, and they began a back-and-forth about the position of soldiers and calling in allies.

How could my entire family disappear like this?

I called Mama and Fiona again, but there was still no answer. Tears sprang to my eyes as my heart filled with worry.

“Fuck,” I muttered, shaking my head, searching my brain.

If Solon was involved, it meant someone figured out where we were quickly and easily. Devani and her team spent countless hours and more money than I could imagineorchestrating this new life she’d forced on me to ever compromise me.

Fiona’s book may have helped our enemies locate me, but it made no mention of the boys or where they lived with Mama. Fortunately, she also excluded any reference to my pregnancy or information about the twins' colleges. None of this added up.

Solon preferred to stay in the shadows, and very few people knew the group's existence. Their message clearly indicated that they intended to undermine any plans Theo and Xander had to protect me, the boys, Mama, and my sisters.

I still couldn’t wrap my head around how they figured out something had gone wrong when no one knew we were going to Phoenix.

I reflected on everything from when I opened the door to find Theo and Xander standing there until just a few moments ago, reviewing all that had transpired.

Then it hit me.

“It was the fucking flight manifest!” I shouted to Xander. “At least that’s a possibility.”

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