Page 21 of Hacker Betrayed

"Come on. A party will be so much fun." Her eyes skimmed over my blouse, and she wrinkled her nose. "Isn't that from your collection last year?"

I needed to get her out of my office before I reached for the gun in my desk drawer and killed her. It sounded extreme, but I’d be lying if I said the thought of taking out my baby sister hadn’t crossed my mind a couple of times. She was a spoiled brat who walked over anybody in her way. "Mom loves to throw parties. Why not talk to her about this? I don't have time to help, and I could not care less about her. She left years ago."

"She was the lucky one," she replied. "She could have had everything. Don't you want to know why she turned her back on her inheritance? I bet she could have taken over when Cyrus died."

Her voice was soft and dream-like. I never understood how she was okay with the body bags dragged out the back door. Or our brother's bloody knuckles. I hope in time, my sister will get what she deserves, and nobody will be there to help her. "Send me a text of when you and Mom are planning for this party, and if I have time I'll come."

"Excellent. Do you want to go to lunch with Amelia and me?"

A new intern strode past my door, but I couldn't remember his first name. I waved, and he stopped at the entrance to my office. "Mr. Parker."

He looked at me curiously.

"Can you tell Richard I'm running a few minutes late, and I'll be on my way soon?"

His brows drew together, but he nodded. If I had money, I would give the kid a raise because Richard wasn't in today. Mr. Parker masked his confusion quick with a nod.

"I need to get back to work, sis."

She stuck her lip out. "But I thought we could spend some time at the spa after lunch."

I shook my head. "Not today."

"Fine." She rose from the chair and marched out of my office.

I picked up the phone and called the only person I trusted. He picked up on the second ring. "Did you find anything?"

"No, and your plan failed."

He didn't need to tell me; I saw the evidence of my failed plan at my parents' house. "You going to call your man and find out why he didn't finish the job?"

"Careful how you speak to me. Our families have been friends for a long time, but our friendship doesn't give you an excuse to act like you own me." He paused. "We might not have much time. From the looks of things, the plans are already in motion."

I blinked back the tears. If I didn't manage to somehow fix my company, my family would find out what I did, and I would be in the body bag taken out of the house.

"I won't let them win."

Luther let out a long sigh. "You might not have the option. The families will be angry if they find out what you did."

CHAPTER7

Paxton

All the blood had rushed from my brain to my cock when Mia rested her head against my chest. We stood outside of my office while her son spoke to his father for the first time. I wasn't sure about the man, especially with the information he'd dug up on me. Information I'd spent years trying to find.

He'd told me my adoptive father holds all the information about who killed my mother and baby sister. I'd wanted to call bullshit, but some of his reasoning made sense. We could never figure out why the Ellison family wanted the four of us. A month after my mother’s death, Ruben Ellison showed up to the group home and asked to adopt all four of us. They had two kids, billions of dollars. Marisol and Javion were out of the house, and at the time Kaeden was almost eighteen. He opened his arms, took us in, and paid for our college. A few times, we questioned their motives, but stopped because they gave us so much.

The thumping of the helicopter blades pulled me from my thoughts. "I'm sure it's my brothers or someone from Blackwood Mercenary. Do you want to stay here, and I'll check to see who else arrived?" I turned and glanced into my office. Donovan was talking with his son, but he gave me a raised brow.

"I'll come with you." She took a step back, and I immediately hated the loss of her touch. We walked next to each other until we got to the dining room, where a tall man dressed in a designer suit strode through the floor-to-ceiling glass doors. I'd seen him only on television, never in person, and I sure as hell never thought he would be at my house.

"Hey, asshole," Brock said. "Did you have to come by helicopter and alert the world you're here?"

"Did he just call the former president an asshole?" I whispered to Mia. I wasn't sure what was harder to believe, that Zack Tucker was in my kitchen or that someone called him an asshole to his face.

"Brock and Zack have a close relationship," Mia replied, like that was a valid reason to call the former president a name. "If I had to guess, Brock's making decisions about everything without talking to him."

I glanced over to the kitchen, where Eric and Wes didn't seem fazed by the newcomer. Sebastian stared open-mouthed as the former president took a beer from Brock and popped the top off with a pair of keys from his pocket.

---