Page 30 of Wicked Sin

“And what did you settle on?”

“Still unsure.” He rubs his stubble-covered jaw. “What’s your deal, Taylor? Bringing a cop here to accuse me of something?”

“I didn’t bring him,” she says smoothly. “He followed me. Trust me, I didn’t want to air this out in front of him.”

I spread my hands wide. “Hey, I’m right here. And I’m not the enemy.”

Cole’s eyebrows hit the roof. “You don’t know much about her family, do you?”

“I know enough about her to know she’s not fond of her family.”

“Really?” He smirks. “That’s new.”

“And I understand you work for them.”

“Worked. Past tense. Taylor’s out of the loop on that score.”

“And now it’s my turn to say,hey, I’m right here.” Taylor snaps her fingers. “It’s notnewthat I want nothing to do with my parents. I left D.C. three years ago because I knew I needed to be somewhere else. I’ve stayed away, and now something has happened that I am genuinely in the dark about, because I stayed away. So give me some credit, Cole. I came here knowing you would be adversarial. Knowing you wouldn’t trust me. But I needed to look you in the eye and ask you if you tried to send me a nasty message yesterday on behalf of…who ever. Or even just yourself, because you can be that evil.”

He glares at her. “It wasn’t me. You think Hailey would let me live if I did that to you?”

“She hates me.”

“She hates you because she loves you, and you hurt her. Repeatedly. But she wouldn’t ever want to see you harmed. If there’s anyone in your family who is that twisted, we both know it’s your mother. Have you asked mommy dearest where she was yesterday?”

Mommy dearest. I had the same fleeting thought on the plane overnight, and discarded it. Now my gut twists hard.

It wouldn’t be the first time I’d seen a parent hurt a child, but it’s never easy to go down that line of investigation. Nobody wants to come to that conclusion. Especially not Taylor. She’s gone white.

“That’s offside, Cole.”

“Is it? You know all sorts of sordid details about PRISM. Maybe she wants to keep you quiet, given that the Feds have shut down your trust funds.”

“How did Hailey even notice? She doesn’t touch hers.”

“She didn’t notice. She doesn’t care. You should take a page from her book.”

I need them to back up a step toall sorts of sordid details about PRISM, as in, what the fuck is PRISM, and just exactly how sordid are we talking?

But now we’re on the topic of Hailey, apparently, and that’s more important to both of them.

“How can I take a page from her book when she won’t talk to me?”

“Suddenly you care about that? If you showed up here just to lean on your sister when—”

Another man appears in the doorway. He has a sleeping toddler strapped to his chest, which makes me do a double-take.

“Whoa, guys, keep it down.” He points to the snoozing body attached to him. “Nap time.”

“Wilson?” Now Taylor’s doing a double-take, too. “Is that…yours?”

“Yeah. What the hell are you doing back here? I thought we agreed California was healthier for you in every way.”

“We did.” She turns to me. “Luke, this is Wilson Carter, the resident hacker, and the only member of the Horus Group who I actually like.”

“Luke Vasquez, LAPD.” I shake his hand. He doesn’t try to murder my knuckles, so I like him more than Cole already.

“Interesting. When did Taylor start dating a cop?”

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