Page 24 of Secrets

“No,” she said, smiling at the table. “Those are birth labels.”

“Birth labels?” frowned Nine. “Do you mean like a birth certificate?”

“I don’t know if they make birth certificates, but my father said these were birth labels. We all have them permanently inked on our backs. It’s really small, but they’re there. I was only seven or eight when they took me to have mine done. I remember they put me to sleep for it. It stung a bit, but it didn’t bother me after that.”

The tables of people looked at one another, then toward Jean and Miriam.

“Honey,” said Miriam, reaching for her hand. “Where is this on your back?”

“At the back of my neck,” she said, calmly lifting her hair.

“That explains why I didn’t see it,” said Trevon. “Your hair covered it.”

She lifted her hair, and Miriam and Jean looked at the series of letters. They didn’t match those in their hands, which meant she might be the key to where all the money was located.

“Millicent, those are passwords for cryptocurrency. I think maybe your father and brothers had someone, an accountant, a financial expert, someone who helped them to purchase crypto and build immense wealth.”

“I don’t understand any of this. So, if they were giving me to the Dyatlovs, what does that mean?”

“My guess, Millicent,” said Gaspar softly, “is that they would have had the crypto password and wouldn’t have needed you.”

“Then they would have killed me,” she whispered. “Why not just give them the key? Why give them me as well? Never mind. I don’t want to know that. But that means they’re going to want me all the more. That’s why they want me in Chicago, isn’t it?”

“We think so,” said Miller. “If we were to allow you to be there, you would be at their mercy, or so they think. Right now, they have no clue that we’re protecting you, and you’re part of our family.”

“But they’ll come for you eventually. Can’t we just get to all this money and give it to them? I don’t want it.”

“We’re working on figuring out how much is there,” said Jean. “Give us a little while. This isn’t like traditional banking. It takes sometimes days to actually make the transaction go through. Once we know how much was left, we’ll be able to attack this in a different way.”

“What about the letters that were on my brothers and my father?” she asked. Ghost looked at Ian, Nine, and Gaspar, then stared at Kane.

“I think we can get Juan to get the letters off your brother. If we can find the autopsy photos taken after the shoot-out, we’ll be able to see the string left on your dad and Tick,” said Kane.

“But how will Juan get into the prison? They’ve already said you can’t speak with him.”

“We have our ways, Millicent. Don’t worry. No matter what, you’re going to be taken care of, and hopefully, we’ll be able to figure out why your family was willing to give the Dyatlovs the money in the account on your neck,” said Nine.

“I don’t like it on me anymore. I thought it was something different. That makes me stupid, doesn’t it?” she said with tears in her eyes. Trevon hugged her, kissing her temples.

“No, baby, it doesn’t make you stupid. It makes you innocent.”

“We can use the laser at the spa to get the tattoo off of your neck,” said Nine. “Let Jean copy the sequence so we have it, then we’ll let Keegan laser the tattoo off. You’ll never have to see it or think about it again.”

“Can you show my brother, so he stops coming for me?” she asked.

“We’ll do our best,” smirked Gaspar. “Just remember, you have nothing to worry about as long as you’re here on the property.”

“And if I’m forced to go to Chicago?” she asked tentatively.

“We’ll deal with that as well.”

“Honey, he’s telling you that the men here will protect you,” said Miriam. “You let them worry about Jay and the Dyatlovs, and Jean and I will worry about the code.”

“And what do I worry about?” she asked innocently. Trevon hugged her, pulling her closer.

“Loving me.”

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

---