Page 122 of Heresy

“Ex-military, as in Scott?” Taylor asks.

Brinley’s head snaps his direction. “You know about Scott?”

All our attention shifts to Brinley. It’s Jase and his big mouth who speaks first.

“Yeah, Scott. As in Scott Clayborn. Also known as Everly Clayborn’s brother. What do you know about them?”

Brinley stares at him with no reaction. Then she clams up. “Nothing.”

“You know something,” he demands.

“Not a thing,” she volleys back, and for once I don’t feel so alone in dealing with her.

Jase launches out of his seat to storm toward her. I launch out of mine to beat his ass for daring to attack her. But just before he reaches her, Brinley surprises everyone by kicking out with both her feet, landing the blow right between his legs.

I stop in place as a pained groan crawls up his throat, his hands going to his balls as he sinks to his knees on the floor in front of her.

Oddly, I feel a little proud.

“Told you she’s a ninja.”

Ivy beams. “Oh, sweetie, you seriously need to teach that to me. Now I know how handy it’ll be in the future with these boys.”

Gabe crosses the room to collect Ivy and walk her away from Brinley. “She’ll be teaching you nothing, love. I can barely handle you as it is.”

Pushing past me, Tanner grabs Jase and pulls him to his feet. “Go sit down, and stop embarrassing yourself.”

Brinley and I meet eyes again. She’s expecting something from me, but I don’t think it’s what I give her.

“Good job,” I say with a nod of approval.

A smile begins to pull at her lips. She shakes it off, still angry despite the praise.

Luca pipes up as I cross the room to retake my seat.

“I didn’t know dad’s company had anything to do with the military. I thought it was a technical firm.”

Brinley still refuses to speak.

A heavy sigh blows over Luca’s lips.

“I know this situation isn’t ideal, Brinley. But I don’t think you understand what’s going on. My father died. He attempted to send me information to access his servers. I don’t know why, and the governor ended up in possession of the flash drive my father intended to send to me.”

At that, something odd flashes in Brinley’s expression. She turns her head just slightly to look at Luca, her attention rapt.

“Something is on those servers that my father wanted me to see. But we can’t decrypt the flash drive, and we suspect the servers themselves were stolen by your dad a few weeks ago. As soon as I asked about them, he changed his number, and the servers vanished from the storage facility in Georgia where my dad kept everything.”

Brinley’s expression softens more. Still she says nothing.

Luca twists in her seat to attempt to look Brinley in the eye.

“We’re not looking for your father. We’re looking for the servers.”

Her curiosity must be getting the better of her. After thinking for a few tense moments, Brinley finally responds.

“Why are you looking for the servers?”

“Because there is something on them our fathers want,” Tanner answers, his voice careful.

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