Page 57 of Broken Empire
When he heard me enter the room, he glanced up and smiled. “Just in time,” he said. “I finally managed to make an omelet that doesn’t look like a pile of congealed vomit.”
“Thanks, man. Now I’m not hungry,” Leah said dryly, glancing up from the laptop.
“More for Shay, then,” Killian said with a wicked glint in his eyes, transferring the omelet onto a plate.
I perched on the stool next to Leah. “Thanks,” I said, eyeing the food. “It smells delicious.”
Leah looked over at me. “You must be starving,” she said softly, eyes lingering on my jutting collarbones. “I’m guessing they didn’t feed you much in that place.”
I shook my head, lips pressed in a thin line. “Not so much, no.”
Killian cracked some eggs into a bowl and came to stand next to me as he whisked them. “We called Carla while you were still asleep. I hope that’s okay.”
My eyes shot up. “Why?”
“We don’t want to leave here until we have to, but we needed some stuff.” He motioned toward the laptop. “That thing was dead by the time Leah started looking at it, so we needed a charger. We also got her to bring some dye for you, so you can change your hair back.”
“The blonde looks nice on you,” Leah said. “But I’m guessing you don’t need the reminder of what those assholes did to you every time you look in the mirror.”
I nodded and stabbed the omelet with my fork. “Thanks,” I murmured. I took a bite and glanced up at Killian, who was still looking at me, eyes flickering with concern. “What else have you two been up to?”
He set the bowl down and rubbed my back. “Leah’s been trying to break into the laptop all morning.”
“It’s very heavily encrypted,” Leah added, glancing over at me again. “But I think I’m close.”
“Who did you say it belongs to?” I asked.
“It was next to Murray Engler in the set room at Blackwood,” Killian said. “So I’m assuming it’s his. Even if it isn’t, it’s obviously still got something to do with the Schöneberg Group, so there should be useful information on there.”
I nodded slowly. “What are we going to do with it?”
“Not sure yet.” Killian rubbed his chin and frowned. “We can’t just go to the police and tell them what happened to you, even if the laptop turns out to be full of evidence.”
“Why not?”
“We don’t know who we can trust in the authorities,” he said. “When Robert was helping me get you away from Cooper, he told me that he has strong connections with the police commissioner, AG, and high-ranking FBI officials here in New York. So I’m guessing those men and women are either Schöneberg members themselves, or they’re influenced by them in some way.”
“So if we try to report what happened, they might screw us over,” I said, brows dipping in a frown.
“Exactly.”
Before I could say anything else, Leah made a triumphant whooping sound. “I’m in!” she said, fingers still flying over the keyboard. “Oh my god, there’s so much shit on here.”
I moved my head to the right and looked at the laptop screen. “Like what?”
“Not sure,” she murmured, squinting at the screen. “I don’t know if I can actually open all of these folders.”
“Are they encrypted too?”
She nodded. “Yeah, very heavily, and unfortunately, I have my limits. There’s stuff I can’t break into no matter how hard I try.” She frowned and typed something again. “This folder here is accessible. Looks like a membership list.”
Killian’s brows shot up. “That could be useful. Is it a full list?”
Leah turned the screen slightly to show us. “There’s over three thousand entries in the database, so yeah, I’m guessing it’s a full list.” She scratched at her cheek and frowned again. “Looks like each entry contains a member’s full name and details along with a link to a video file. Each video title follows a naming convention—the letters HFCI followed by a number. Any idea what that means?”
Killian stiffened. “Yeah, I think I know what it means,” he said. “The numbers probably refer to a year, and the letters stand for Hellfire Club Initiation.”
“Why would it meanthat?” Leah said, nose crinkling. “Isn’t the Hellfire Club that creepy secret society at Bellingham?”
