“No, Sam. I told him things that I know you wouldn’t have wanted me to.” She clasped the box to her chest, holding tightly. “I have to go. I’m sorry, Sam. I really am. Don’t go to that party tomorrow.”

“Summer?”

She left. The door slammed shut behind her. I went after her, but the phone started to ring behind me. We both used our cell phones, but the dorm installed a landline. I never used it and was going to ignore it this time, too, but a thought occurred, and I held back.

Picking up the receiver, I asked, “Hello?”

“Is my sister there?”

It was Sebastian.

I gritted my teeth but replied in a cheerful voice, “Nope, but she just talked me into going to a party you’re throwing tomorrow?”

“Oh, good. That’s what I was calling about. Now,” his voice dipped down, “Samantha, I know that there’s been some bad blood between us, but I want to make things right. You’re friends with my sister. Your father is close to my family, and we’ve all been supporting your mother.”

The last statement churned my blood. I gripped the phone tighter. “What do you mean?”

“Just that this silly battle I have with Mason and Logan doesn’t need to extend to you and me. I mean, we’re practically family anyway.” He laughed into the phone.

The smugness had me seeing red.

“It must have been difficult to go through everything you have. You don’t just have Mason and Logan to lean on, you know. There’s a whole network of people you can lean on. We’ll support you through anything. That sounds good, doesn’t it?”

It sounded condescending. I went with it. “Oh, yeah.” My sarcasm was kept in check. Sugary sweetness here. “I’ll take any support I can get.”

“See? I know my sister was hesitant to bring you in, but I think it’s time you found out about everyone else. I wasn’t lying when I said there’s a whole network of people you can call family. In fact, you’re more connected than Mason and Logan are. I think you have a really great future ahead of you.”

“Oh,” fucker, “yeah, that sounds wonderful.” My knuckles were white. I had to keep from breaking the phone. “Hey, can you let me know where the party is? Your sister seemed distracted when I asked for the directions, and I just wanted to double check with you.”

“Sure. Are you ready?”

After jotting it down, I signed off with a cheerful, Fuck you, in my head.

I dialed Mason immediately after.

As soon as he answered, I said, “We have a problem.”

MASON

Sam said Garrett and his wife were staying with the Sebastians. I figured I needed somewhere more private than my house to have this meeting so I booked a suite at a hotel. This was all Sam’s idea. Once we hatched the plan with Nate and Logan, we were good to go until she woke up in the middle of the night.

“What’s wrong?” I sat up next to her, rubbing her back under her shirt.

Tears ran down her cheeks and she raised her knees up, hugging them to her. She rested her cheek against her knee and looked at me. There was such sadness in her gaze, and it tugged at me, sinking deep in my chest. Wiping some of the wetness from her face, I asked again, “What’s wrong? Tell me.”

“Garrett.”

I frowned. Her dad? My hand paused on her back. “What about him?”

“He’s a part of all of this.” She sniffled, but she didn’t pull away from her knee. She just kept looking up at me. She wasn’t seeing me. She was seeing him. My jaw clenched, realizing that. The sadness was for him.

I asked, “What do you want to do?”

She hesitated and her teeth sank down on her bottom lip.

My hand rested against her cheek, and I said softly, “No more lies. No more trying to protect each other. What do you want to do? We’ll do it together. What are you thinking?”

Her head lifted, and a surge of strength flared over her features. Her chin lifted. Her eyes took on a fierce determination, and her entire body grew stronger. She said, “We take the flash drive to him. We make him do the dirty work for us.”

It was a gamble.

“Are you sure?” I asked.

She nodded. Her eyes were lidded with fear, but she murmured, “We have to try. He is my father, after all.”

Garrett was connected to whatever was on Summer’s flash drive. We still didn’t unencrypt it, but he was involved. He could warn them against us, before we even made our move, but this was Sam’s call. She wanted to go to her biological father first. And he was here.

The hotel door buzzed.

Sam was sitting in the corner of the room, wringing her hands together, and chewing the inside of her cheek for the last hour. She sucked in her breath and her eyes whipped to mine. I nodded, standing from my seat, and I crossed the room to open the door.

Garrett was on the other side. No welcoming smile came. No question lurking in his depths. He skimmed over my face and then looked inside for his daughter. Once he saw her, he looked back to me. He was waiting for me to invite him in. I nodded, stepping back, and he came inside. Shutting the door behind him, as he stopped behind a couch, I passed him to stand beside Samantha. We were on one side of the room. He was on the other, his hands fell to rest onto the couch. He let out one short breath before clearing his throat. “I take it this isn’t a social call?”

Sam stood next to me, her hand slipping into mine. She wanted me to be the spokesman, but I knew some of the talking had to come from her. In a way, Sam was exposing herself completely here. Garrett came into her life twice, and left twice. This was his last and final chance. If he rejected her again, that was it. She hadn’t shared that sentiment with me, but she’d been quiet the entire morning. She barely said a word. I knew Sam. I knew what this was going to do to her and if he chose wrong, I’d make him pay.