Page 1 of Corrupted Lies

Chapter

One

October 13th

12:45 P.M.

“I've hardly seen you in months. I've missed you.”

The words, softly spoken though they’d been, had Jake Holloway stiffening. If there was one thing the woman standing in front of him knew without a shadow of a doubt it was that for him, family wouldalwayscome first.

No exceptions.

These last three months he’d barely had time to breathe, let alone make time for anything outside of protecting his family from threat after threat.

The blows just kept coming.

First, his stepbrother Cooper was almost killed in Egypt after chasing down a lead on who was involved in setting up Jake’s stepmother to look like a traitor. Then his stepbrother Cole’s neighbor was targeted after someone wrongly assumed the two were a couple, although they were in fact now dating. Then, his stepbrother Connor brought danger right to his ex-girlfriend’s door when he traveled to Cambodia to attempt a reconciliation.Then finally, last month, his last stepbrother Cade’s four-year-old daughter and her nanny had been abducted.

With all that going on in his family, how could he possibly have time for anything other than keeping the people he loved safe?

More than just safe, this was literally a matter of life and death, he’d been focused on keeping his family alive.

In comparison to that, nothing else mattered.

Certainly not him taking time out of his day to do something fun that he actually enjoyed.

And spending time with Alannah Johansen wasalwayssomething he enjoyed.

“Family first, Alannah. You know that,” he snapped a little harsher than he should have, then again, if anyone was used to his grumpy attitude, it was certainly his best friend since childhood.

“Course I know that, grumpypants,” Alannah shot back with a laugh that to anyone else would sound completely natural. But he’d known this woman since they were small children. In fact, he’d met her when he’d been five and playing in his backyard and heard someone crying. When he squeezed himself through a hole in the fence, he’d found four-year-old Alannah curled up in a ball in the middle of a flower bush crying her little eyes out.

From then on, the two of them had been best friends.

Which, after almost thirty years, meant he knew how to read Alannah.

Knew that she was covering her hurt at not being included as a member of his family even though she technically wasn't. May as well be though, they’d grown up together, she’d been there for him when his mom died, and then his dad remarried out of the blue only to be accused of treason six months later and committed suicide. She’d been his rock, and throughout the years he’d been her protector. Making sure no one teased heron the playground because of her lisp when she was little, then making sure no boys took advantage of her as they got older and both started dating.

Truth was, Jake did consider Alannah family, but right now, it was pretty dangerous to be part of his family.

“I didn't mean it how it sounded, sunshine,” he assured her. “You're my best friend and have been since we were in kindergarten. It’s just this stuff with my family is messed up, and I don’t want you involved in it.”

Alannah’s golden-brown eyes softened, and she set down the dumbbell she’d been lifting as he gave himself an hour off to work out at the gym with his best friend, and stepped closer. “Jake, I don’t know the details, and I'm not asking you to share. You're right, I'm not family, but I am your best friend, and I care about you. If you need help, I'll do anything I can to give it to you.”

That was absolutely true.

No one had as good a heart as Alannah. Despite an entire lifetime of constantly being put down and told she wasn't enough by her parents as they favored her older sister, the family’s golden child, she loved and cared about everybody she met. She was bright, bubbly, and sunshiny, and it seemed like nobody but him realized that was just a shield she used to mask her pain and fears.

Reaching out, he took her hand and gave it a squeeze. “I know you would, sunshine, but unfortunately this is one thing I can't bring you in on. Please understand, it’s not because I don’t respect the hell out of you, you have always had my back, I just don’t want you getting dragged into this and hurt.”

Because he’d been keeping what was going on with his family quiet, Alannah had no idea the extent of the danger he and his family were in. She’d been around when his dad remarried, and they’d both been upset when his dad made them move intohis new stepmother’s house. But their friendship had continued, and Alannah knew about his dad and stepmom getting arrested, knew that he and all his brothers believed the marriage was fake, knew that for the last almost twenty years he and his brothers had been searching for the truth.

She just didn't know how close they were to finding it, or the lengths the people responsible for framing his dad and stepmother would go to cover it up.

“Grumpy, are you in danger? Are you safe?” she asked, her voice dropping to a whisper because at least two dozen other people were inside the gym that Alannah owned and ran.

A familiar smile tugged at the corners of his lips. Grumpy and sunshine had been their nicknames since they were in middle school. The other kids always thought it was hilarious that the angriest kid in the class was best friends with the happiest.

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