Page 54 of Finally Found You

My throat tightens at his words. “Will there be fire?” Dread coils in the pit of my stomach.

“We don’t know just yet. I want to be prepared,” Finn says. His words send a chill down my spine. “This just went from, ‘I-think-your-mother-hired-a-hitman’ to ‘your-mother-nurtured-a-mob.’”

“Lovely,” I mutter under my breath, my gut twisting in a vortex of fear and disgust. “Your priority needs to be ensuring the safety of my family.”

“And that’s the second part of our conversation,” Finn continues, his voice unyielding, keeping with the situation’s gravity. “We need to send everyone off the grid. Keaton’s pregnancy is on our radar, and we’ve arranged to send her to Oregon. We have a doctor and hospital ready in case she needs it.”

“You’re sending Aslan and Keaton with Caspian?” My voice echoes with disbelief, a hint of dread curling around each word.

“No. They’ll have their own place. Though, Caspian will be off the grid, too,” Finnegan says.

I replay his words because they don’t make sense. “But he’s a hockey player,” I mention, because I don’t see this working when he’s a public figure.

Finnegan’s dismissive chuckle ignites a spark of frustration in me, but before the flames can fully catch, he soothes me with his next words. “Don’t worry. We’ll take care of everything. They just finished the playoffs. It’s a shame they didn’t win the cup this time.”

Do they really have things under control? I feel like he’s just going through the logical steps and not following my wishes.

“But we want to confront my mother,” I argue back. “I have to speak with everyone before that can happen. Is this evacuation necessary?”

“I believe it is.” His answer is slow and measured. “Your mother’s intentions with these men are unclear. Are they simply newfound friends, or is she orchestrating your downfall? If I knew her motives, I wouldn’t mind keeping you around. Now, if you have to speak to your siblings, I think it’ll be best to do it via teleconference. We’re looking at a few hours before the evacuation begins.”

I can hardly process his words. My mind spins out of control. “You want me to give them the news.”

“I can be there with you,” he offers, a slight hint of sympathy seeping into his voice. “In fact, I’ll send the link. Gather everyone.”

* * *

As I drive toward Spearman LP, a sense of dread pools inside of me. Aslan and Gatsby are already waiting for me in the conference room. The faces of Fern, Elliot, Heath, Cory, Cas, and Huxley appear on the screen.

“Is this an intervention, or are you finally introducing us to our niece?” Caspian jumps into the conversation. If he’s trying to be funny, he’s doing a shitty job.

“Neither,” I respond, sounding strangely detached. “As you know, we’ve been investigating Atzi’s accident.”

“Did you find out who did it?” His frame quivers with barely contained fury, his face flushing an angry red. I can almost feel the rage radiating off him through the screen. I’m unsure of how he’ll react when we confirm our mother was the one who orchestrated everything.

“We… may have,” I admit. Taking a deep breath, I tell them everything we’ve discovered so far.

“You knew she poisoned him?” Heath’s voice is raw with disbelief and anger. “All this fucking time, you knew, and you—”

“I couldn’t confirm anything at the time,” I interrupt, my words tumbling out in a rush. “She had the body cremated before we could request an autopsy.”

Heath shakes his head. His disbelief is palpable, even through the screen. “He probably died of asphyxiation or some other reaction to the drops,” he speculates. The “if only” is left unspoken, yet echoes loudly in the room.

“Doc, snap out of that trance. You were thirteen, and we can’t fix the past,” Gatsby intervenes, his voice steady despite the tension. “But we’re trying to prevent any more incidents or catastrophes.”

Fern, who had been a silent observer until now, interjects with a quiet calm that belies the gravity of the situation. “So what’s the plan?”

“Ben’s brother is taking care of this,” I say, because I don’t even know what they’re going to do. As long as I get the opportunity to confront my mother, they can handle the Meyers and their enterprise in whatever way they see fit.

“They think this might be dangerous,” I continue. “They’re doubling the security around you and advising you on how to go off the grid.”

Huxley scoffs. “That sounds ominously cryptic. I have a life, you know.”

“We have things to do,” Caspian agrees.

“I’m only giving you a heads-up because your bodyguards are on their way to extract you,” I explain, trying to sound calmer and more patient than I feel.

“To where?” Aslan’s question hangs in the air. All eyes are on me.

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