Page 92 of Keeping Kasey
I recognize this…allof this.
This isn’t possible. It can’t be.
I spend thirty seconds staring at the error code, hoping I’m wrong—but I already know I’m not.
I force myself to enter the bypass key that opens the comms program.
A bypass key thatIcreated.
BecauseIbuilt this communications program three years ago.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Kasey
A thousand realizations hit me at once, but two make me sick to my stomach.
First, I built the comms program hidden within the Consoli and Moreno databases.
Second, Brandon hired me to do it.
The floodgate opens, memories rushing back to me with violent force, and I feel like an idiot for not connecting the dots sooner.
That’s why I recognized Brandon.
I hadn’t met him before, but I did have a handful of phone calls with him three years ago. One of my previous clients referred him to me, so I took the job. He was looking for someone to create ahidden channel of communication. It needed to be invisible—unless someone knew exactly where to look—and allow its users to stay connected in a way that would remain untraceable.
At the time—if what I found was accurate—Brandon worked in the cybersecurity unit at the Chicago Police Department. I thought it was for shady cops or some government agency.
Mason must have officially brought Brandon into the Consoli familyafterI gave him the program, but I have no doubt he had it made for this reason and this reason alone. Mason had tohave known that going through Brandon would make it virtually impossible for his family to trace the program back to him.
How Brandon was able to figure out who I was is the only thing I can’t figure out.
I disguised my voice on the calls and went byCamlike I always do. I know there’s always a possibility of being found out, but Brandon hadn’t seemed like a worthy threat.
I completely underestimated him.
And now,I’mthe very culprit Logan is looking for.
We’ll execute every traitor.
No.No.
Logan would never hurt me.
He was horrified after seeing what Brandon did to me. He spent an entire week caring for me. He wouldn’t just turn on me like that.
He couldn’t.
We’ll execute every traitor.
Suddenly, I see my mother’s face the day my father died—the dejection, the grief, the pain. The look of complete and utter apathy the day she kicked me out. I see Brandon’s manic expression as he grabbed me by the hair and threw me to the ground. I see Logan’s purified fury when I told him about the attack.
And like a cruel projection into the future, I see that same look directed atme.
Logan is a dangerous man who can have me tortured with the snap of his fingers. He could end my life as easily as saying the word.
I’ve seen his passion for his work—his family. If he sees me as a threat, as part of the team that helped his brother kill their father, he won’t hesitate to show me the same merciless fate that he intends every one of Mason’s followers to face.
