Page 58 of The Truth Between

“I want to go to the Chevalier Headquarters in New York City,” I said, looking in her direction.

“Is something wrong with you? You can’t just demand to go there. Well, you could, but you can’t just waltz up there and demand entry!”

This was along the lines of what I’d expected her reaction to be, so I wasn’t surprised.

“I know, which is why I’ll need you to help me with that too. I know I’m asking a lot of you, but—”

“You know, yet you continue to do so?” Aria asked, cutting me off. The anger in her voice was beginning to rise, and I didn’t blame her. “Also, how do you know I can get in there?”

I wasn’t sure the best way to try to explain myself to Aria, so I just blurted out the first thing I had in mind. “There’s a lot that you don’t know.”

“Well then, you better get to talking.”

“Where do I begin…” I trailed off, mostly talking to myself. Before Aria could form a response, I said, “I think my ancestor was involved in the founding of the Chevaliers.”

Aria’s eyescut over to me before she turned back to the road. “You can’t be serious.”

“She was cut out of getting recognition, and I’m determined to prove that. But the Chevaliers don’t want this information getting out.”

“My brother is trying to keep this information secret?”

“Yes, but it’s not just your brother. All the members of the Chevaliers are trying to keep this information a secret, including Soren. It was why he kidnapped me. I don’t know why they are doing so, but they are. And I am not sure what they would eventually have done to me.”

Aria sighed and shook her head in disbelief. “If I were to help you, what would you want to do?”

I hoped this was a good sign and meant that she was considering my plan. I took a deep breath before I spoke again. “We need to get into the Chevalier Headquarters and find out more information about Eddison Payne and some of the letters he wrote to Margaret Turner. We can use that to prove she was involved in the founding of the Chevaliers, and then we can make sure her name is recognized. As it should be.”

“I’m going to get into so much trouble with this. Parker isn’t going to speak to me again.”

“Just say I held you at gunpoint and you’re doing all of this because I made you do it.”

Aria groaned and rolled her eyes. “You won’t have to do that, but we’ll need a plan. And we need one fast because we have to do this tonight.”

“First of all, can you get us into the Chevalier Headquarters? That would change things significantly.”

Aria thought for a moment. “I can’t get us directly in there, but there might be a way around it. I can get into Parker’s office after hours, and it’s in the same building.”

“That would be amazing. I assume what I’m looking for would be in some sort of archives or, at this point, it could also be stored digitally too.”

Aria tapped her fingers on the steering wheel before she responded. “There’s a chance that if the letters were put into a digital format, Parker has access to them from his computer. It would make sense, being that they are in the same building, for him to be able to connect to whatever he needs at any given time.”

That was a good point. So if our search of the Chevalier Headquarters came up empty, or we weren’t able to get in at all, then that could be our next step.

“Maybe this will work after all,” I murmured more to myself than Aria.

“I can’t believe I’m doing this,” Aria said before she glanced at me. “You need to explain everything to me.”

I thought about what she said for a moment, debating what I was going to say next. “I will once you answer a few of my questions.”

“I hardly think you’re in a position to negotiate, Iris.”

I raised an eyebrow at her. “Even if I think that you know more about this situation than you’re letting on?”

Aria’s grip on the steering wheel tightened, but she said nothing. Every so often, her eyes shifted to the rearview mirror, not checking for cars but seemingly lost in thought. There was no doubt in my mind that I’d hit a nerve.

“Just spill it,” she finally said.

“Was our meeting at the beginning of the school year a setup?”

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