Page 65 of Clear Blue Sky

“I’m ready to be briefed,” he said.

The man at the computer glanced over his shoulder. “Is that wise with—”

“It’s fine,” his mother said. “Nelson, this is Boomer. He’s also Delta Force and an expert in cyber security and IT.”

Boomer stretched out his arm. “It’s a pleasure to meet you and all your brothers. I’ve heard a lot about you from your mom.”

“Thanks for coming,” Nelson said. “What have you found?”

Boomer wiggled his fingers over the keyboard and tapped at a few screens. “It’s a pretty elaborate plan and kind of ingenious.”

Nelson leaned against the counter, keeping Brandi close. He could feel the fear seeping off her skin.

“The first thing Marcus planned on doing was wreaking havoc on the Grant Publishing computer system starting tomorrow. I’m working on making sure that it doesn’t happen in the way that they planned.”

“What exactly did they intend on doing to our system?” Brandi asked.

“Sending out massive emails where they didn’t belong,” Boomer said. “Things like private emails between editors about writers and then sent to authors. From rejection letters to the wrong recipients. Things like that. Anything to make you all scramble to fix the problems.”

“That would make us call Ethan.” Brandi leaned closer to Nelson, holding on to his arm with a death grip. “That would fall on me.”

“They knew that.” Frank waved a piece of paper in the air. “The idea is to force you back to New York City to meet with Ethan to fix the errors and then—”

“Kidnap her?” Bile filled Nelson’s throat.

“Not exactly,” Stacey said. “They are running on the assumption that Nelson has his hackles up.”

“That’s an understatement,” Phoenix muttered.

“They assume that Nelson would leave with Brandi, which is a mistake. That leaves only two Snow boys to deal with.” Stacey shuffled some papers around.

“If I were to have left, that means someone else would have to take over helping to make sure everything is in place for the premiere.” Brandi glanced up at Nelson. “That would get put on Leslie and her team.”

“You mean Roxy,” Nelson said.

“Exactly. And her role would be to sabotage the premiere.” Boomer shifted the screen.

“She wouldn’t be allowed to be alone in your restaurant,” Maverick said. “So, that wouldn’t work.”

“Oh, but they have some plans for the brothers.” Boomer shifted the screen. “Things like rigging home security systems to go off and they have the capability.”

“Ethan is a genius when it comes to shit like that,” Brandi said. “In college, he would hack into systems to prove how unsafe they were and then show the businesses how he could help them. He’s mad wicked smart.”

“Curiosity killed the cat.” Nelson rubbed the back of his neck. “How did they plan on ruining the premiere?”

“Bad food. People getting sick. Movie equipment breaking down. Anything to make Nelson and his brothers look bad,” Boomer said. “But that’s just the beginning. It’s all meant to look as though Nelson did it in a fit of jealousy.”

“Now why the hell would I do that?” Nelson asked.

“Because they were going to make it look like Ethan and Brandi were carrying on behind your back and tie it all back to when you supposedly killed Seth because Roxy wasn’t going to leave him after you slept with her and she got pregnant,” his mother said.

Nelson turned and slammed his fist on the counter. “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.” It was so ridiculous it would probably work.

“I wish I was.” His mother rested her hand on his back. “But none of this is going to happen. Not on my watch.”

Nelson pressed his hands on the cold quartz top and sucked in a deep breath. He’d made a million and one mistakes in his life, but nothing compared to the night he hadn’t turned Roxy away. His stomach churned. “Had I not slept with her, they’d never be able to do this to me. Or to Brandi.”

“That’s not true,” his father bellowed. “They never used that against you until now; honestly, they could still do all this without the affair.”

---