Page 74 of Vendetta

—

I held my breath as I stepped into my family home the next day. All of my dad’s possessions had been passed down to me through his will. Considering how little he seemed to have thought of me, I’m sure that wouldn’t have been the case save for the fact that I was his only living relative. That, and public image. A senator not listing his only daughter as his beneficiary would have raised some serious questions.

I looked around the same living room that I had grown up in, feeling like a complete stranger. Cashton stepped up behind me, waiting for me to take the lead but still giving me space until I was ready.

I let myself take a moment to embrace this new reality before making my way to my father’s main office upstairs.Cashton helped me kick down the locked door, finding it just how I remembered it as a kid.

We spent the next few hours digging through everything we could find, primarily consisting of legal paperwork that I didn’t even attempt to understand. Thankfully, Cashton had learned enough from working for his stepdad to understand the majority of everything. By the end of it, I just let him snoop as I admired him from the top of my dad’s desk.

“Nothing,” he finally relented, dropping the folders to the floor.

“Shit,” I muttered, climbing down from the desk to meet him. Could it be possible that we had just been over-thinking all of this?

His phone dinged with a text message before I got to him, reaching him just as he finished reading it.

“What is it?” I asked, worry snaking its way through me as he slowly tucked the phone back into his pocket and met my eyes.

“Savannah and Francesca both left the country the week after the bonfire.”

CHAPTER 38

LANDRY

“You have to be careful, Landry. Please. I honestly think you both should stop looking into it. If there’s somebody out there after both of your families, digging around is only going to get you into trouble,” Bexley continued as I finished getting dressed.

Cashton was picking me up in less than half an hour, and I wanted to make sure I was presentable to meet his parents. With the lack of leads that we had found in my dad’s office, and Francesca and Savannah leaving the country, they were our next best option.

“Please promise me you’ll stop looking. Lan, I’m scared for you.”

I paused at the sincerity of Bexley’s tone, the panic in her eyes that I had never seen there before. Turning my full attention back to her, I sat back down by her on the bed and grabbed her hand.

“Bex, is something going on?”

“No. I just… I believe you. I believe all of it. But if what you’re saying is true, and there’s something bigger going on, they’re not going to like the both of you trying to dig into it. I’m just scared that you’re going to get close to the skeletons in somebody’s closet and that they’ll come after you in return. You’re my best friend, Lan. I’m just scared.”

I understood where she was coming from. Bexley was the rule follower in the group, the most responsible one of the three of us. But Cashton and I both deserved answers for what was done to our families, no matter the means of getting them.

“Bex, I promise I’ll be careful. But there’s someone out there who tried to have me killed, and who in turn took my mom away from me. And that same person got Cashton’s sister killed. I can’t live the rest of my life without knowing who or why. It’s just something I have to do.”

I gave her a reassuring smile, hoping she would understand just how important this was to me. She offered a small one in return before leaning over to embrace me, her arms wrapping around me as I returned the hug.

“I love you, Lan.”

“I love you too, Bex.”

My phone dinged with a text from Cashton, letting me know that he was waiting out front. Grabbing my purse, I offered Bexley a quick goodbye before running downstairs to meet him.

I had been nervous all morning, feeling strange about meeting his mom and stepdad under these circumstances. Not only would I have to look them in the face while knowing that I could have done more to prevent their daughter’s death, but Iwould most likely have to endure questions about who I was and what my relationship was with Cashton.

I doubt he regularly brought girls home that he wasn’t dating, so explaining that we were just friends might be a little tricky. If you could even call us that. I mean,technicallywe were just friends. Friends that hated each other just a few weeks ago and that had crazy sexual tension.

But I did care about Cashton enough to know that he needed me here today, even if he hadn’t explicitly stated that. He had asked me to come help distract his mom while he spoke with his stepdad, but considering that he was finally facing his mom again after a year of dodging her calls, I knew this was likely to be an emotional day for him. I was just honored that he’d asked me of all people to join him.

Thirty minutes later, we were pulling into the driveway of a modern three-story home, balconies on the top two levels overlooking a sprawling estate. I noticed basketball courts to our left and a smaller guest house to the right, the entire property lush and well-maintained.

Cashton put the car in park, rounding the front to open my door like a complete gentleman. It was odd coming from the same man who had literally locked me in a dog crate and sent our sex tape to half of the school.

I forced myself to take a calming breath as we waited for his parents to open the door, the nerves causing me to jitter. If Cashton was nervous, he didn’t show it. His demeanor remained cool, calm, and collected.

---