Page 42 of Twisted Empire

I hadn’t been sure if Holand would be able to read between the lines, but a hint of fond amusement sparked in his eyes. “You know, I did wonder back then, watching the two of you together… It’s not as if you were ever really raised as siblings.”

Mom tsked her tongue behind me and gave my shoulder a squeeze. “As long as you two are being careful ineveryway… I suppose it’s good you have each other. We’re not going to get in the way of that.”

I exhaled slowly, relief sweeping through me. I hadn’t really expected them to get uptight about our relationship, but there’d always been a nagging worry in the back of my head. We weren’t actually doing anything wrong, though. Holand had never officially adopted me or Mom Logan, so we weren’t siblings even in a legal sense.

“I’ll give Logan a nudge about coming by to visit,” I told Holand. “He’s just been so wrapped up in tracing information we’ve found as well as keeping up with his schoolwork, but soon he won’t have the first excuse. Now I’d better go visit the other resident before she accuses me of abandoning her.”

“I heard that!” Summer hollered teasingly from her bedroom. “I was just generously giving you some family time before I dragged my bestie away.”

“Dinner should be ready in about ten minutes,” Mom called after me. “As soon as the rice is done.”

I found Summer flopped on her bed, but she sat up as soon as I came in and patted the mattress for me to join her. Glancing at the huge window that filled one wall of the bedroom, only partly obscured by the sheer curtain hanging over it, she grinned. “You know, this place sure beats my dorm room. I could totally get used to this.”

I laughed. “I wouldn’t have put you up in a dump. Well, not unless I really had to.”

She arched her eyebrows at me. “The friend who owns the place—that’s this Beckett of yours, isn’t it? He has very good taste in real estate. When do I get to meet him? And does he have any single brothers?”

I couldn’t restrain a snort of amusement. “As far as I know, he’s an only child. But if I find out otherwise, you’ll be the first one I tell.”

“Fine.” She tipped back over on the bed dramatically and twisted a strand of her hair around her finger. “So what other news have you got? Something must have happened in the past few days.”

“Well, we finally got our hands on some evidence that could turn the whole case around,” I told her. “We’re just making sure we have all our bases covered before we turn it in.”

Summer let out a whistle. “Seriously? That’s awesome! Then I can stop having panic attacks every time my phone rings, thinking you’ve been shot or something.”

“I’d like that too,” I said dryly. “Hopefully we’ll have the details settled soon. How’s school going with the distance?”

She let out a huff. “One of my professors is being an ass about me taking emergency leave. It doesn’t help that I can’t explain it. She’s a friend of my mom’s and Iknowmy mom told her that I was lying.”

I gasped. “No way.”

“You remember how my mom is.” Summer groaned. “She loves to know everything, and if she doesn’t, she has to act like she does for appearances.”

Thatwasher mother. I winced. “I don’t know how you handle that.”

“I don’t. There’s a reason I never go and see my mom, and that’s it.”

“So is your professor letting you do the work, or is she refusing?”

“She’s letting me do it for appearance's sake, I think. If I took it to the dean that she was giving my mom information on me, she’d be fired in a heartbeat, and she knows it.” Summer rolled her eyes. “I can play the game, too.”

“I have no idea how my professors are going to take it if I don’t end up coming back to classes next week,” I admitted. “Another reason I’m grateful it seems like we’ve almost got this thing wrapped up. I’d love to let the cops handle the rest.”

Summer waved a finger at me. “And youshouldlet them handle it.”

I swatted her. “I know. I just—"

The chime of my phone cut me off. I dug it out of my pocket. As soon as I saw Beckett’s name on the screen, I yanked it to my ear.

“What’s up?” I asked, and mouthedBeckettat Summer. He’d known I was coming to visit Mom and Summer—he wouldn’t be interrupting that if it wasn’t important.

“Are you still at the condo?” he asked in an urgent tone that set me twice as much on edge.

My heart thumped faster. “I’m sitting beside Summer right now. What happened?”

He took a deep breath, but he couldn’t quite erase the raggedness from his voice that showed how unnerved he was. “Have you heard anything there? Has anything happened in or around the building to make you concerned?”

I got up and stepped to the window, but nothing in the view below told me what he might be concerned about. “No, nothing. It’s been quiet. No alarms or anything.”

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