Page 79 of Filthy Rich

Dave chuckles. “You were a kid, Jake. Give us some credit for paying attention to the people you met.”

I’m shocked. I was so careful to make sure. . . Dave’s an easy guy to underestimate, but that makes me nervous. Could he have been cheating on Seren all this time, and no one even knew because he looks so trustworthy? “Did you read all the letters he sent me?”

Dave shakes his head. “We wouldn’t have read them even if they came through the system. We tried to give you the chance to learn to make your own choices, even ones we disagreed with.”

“Well, the thing is, one of the things Dad told me after his letters started coming through. . .” I clear my throat. “He told me that you. . .”

I can’t say it.

There’s a reason I’ve never asked him about this. Now that we’re down to it, I don’t want to know. I’m about to make something up and get out of here.

Octavia drops her hand on my knee under the table. Her voice is soft and even. I’ve come to expect that from her. Most girls get shrill or demanding or acerbic in times of stress, but not Octavia. “Maybe it’s easier if you text him an image of what your dad sent.”

Dave’s eyes rise. “What did he send you? Is it something about me?” In spite of his curiosity, he doesn’t look the slightest bit guilty or nervous. That calms me down some. One thing I’m very good at doing is reading people in the moment. It’s probably the thing Dad drilled into me the most. Dave’s either a complete sociopath, or he’s not worried in the slightest.

“I—I’ll text you the image. Octavia’s right. That’s best.” My hands are fumblier than they’ve ever been, but I do manage to pull up one of the images and text it to him. Then I swallow, inhale slowly, and force myself to look up as he pulls it up on his phone.

His eyes widen. He zooms in, and then his mouth drops open. “How did he get this?”

Not, “What on earth is this fake photo?” Or “That’s not me!” Just “How?” My stomach sinks.

“My dad’s very, very good at data mining,” I say. “He used to train other people how to live like us.” I clear my throat. “For a fee, of course.”

“Okay, so one of his people somehow dug this up?” Dave sets his phone down and looks at me. “And why did this upset you so much?”

I can hardly believe what he’s saying. “I mean, well, I know you and Seren aren’t my real parents, but I do think?—”

“Are you religious?” Dave’s eyebrows rise. “I didn’t realize that.”

I blink.

“I think what Jake’s trying to say is that he was disappointed when his father told him you were unfaithful to your wife. His dad used this as leverage to force Jake into doing things he didn’t want to do, I believe. He threatened to send this to your wife if Jake didn’t listen to him, and now he’s out of prison, so you can see how that’s become more dangerous. He could send this or other images like it to Seren at any moment.”

The front door opens, and Seren darts through, her eyes wide.

Shoot.

“Oh, hey.” I stand up. “We were just?—”

“David Fansee, what on earth did I just see?” She waves a paper at him, and I realize with horror that it’s the photo I just sent. It’s Dave, leaning back against the headboard of a bed, clearly naked, with just a sheet covering things no one should see, smiling. There’s a woman’s head in the bottom part of the image, and it’s clearly not Seren’s.

“I am so sorry,” I whisper. “I was actually trying to avoid this exact situation.”

Dave hops to his feet, but he doesn’t look upset. He’s smiling. “Jake’s dad sent him that.”

Seren starts laughing. “I’ve been telling you to take that hard drive in to recover our honeymoon photos. If you’d done it, I wouldn’t have to use this one, with another woman in it.” She waves it at him. “Don’t worry. I’ll crop her out before I tape it to the fridge.”

“I told you, it’s not that I don’t have motivation.” He snatches the printed image out of her hand. “It’s that you make such good treats that they always overwhelm my desire to rediscover my six pack.”

She laughs and grabs the paper back, balling it into a wad and tossing it at the trash can. She misses and it bounces across the tile floor, coming to rest by my foot.

Seren’s eyes followed its trajectory, and now she’s staring at me and Octavia. “Oh, you didn’t tell me we had company.”

“Are you kidding? Jake’s car must be parked outside,” Dave says. “It’s so obnoxious that it’s hard to miss.”

I stand up, too freaked out by their bizarre reaction to know what to do. Are they in some kind of open relationship? Why does Seren think it’s funny?

“We parked on the street,” Octavia says. “There was a truck unloading something. . .”

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