Page 29 of Secrets and Lies
I knew it was him because of the shiny eyebrow ring he used to wear back then, and he knew it was me because most of my face was showing.
Technically Damon caught me since he was within arm’s reach of me, and he’s the one who snuck up on me, but he didn’t seem all that interested in getting me out.
We stared at each other for what felt like an eternity, then he took a small step back and simply said, “I never saw you,” as he melted back into the shadows and disappeared.
Ten minutes later the timer ran out, and Damon and I were the only ones left standing. I was declared the winner thanks to the dozen coins I’d collected.
Damon and I both know that he was the actual winner, but he let me collect the prize and accolades that were rightfully his, and I have no idea why.
“I owed you one, so that was me paying my debt,” I tell him.
He flicks his lip ring with his tongue a few times. “This feels like an overpayment considering how many rules I broke and how much shit you could get in for helping me cover it up.”
“I thought about turning you in,” I tell him. “But I decided to track him so I could get the full picture of what the fuck was going on.”
“And you still kept quiet even after having the bigger picture?” he asks, his eyes wide with surprise again.
I give him a long look that makes him squirm under my scrutiny. “He was able to go anywhere in the house and could have fucked with our security or done a dozen other things to sabotage us, but he didn’t. He only ever went to your room. Ifigured it was better to keep an eye on things than to tattle on you guys. Information is the most powerful thing you can have around here, and any leverage I can get over the Hawthornes was worth the risk of being an accomplice.”
“But we broke the rules,” he insists, like he’s trying to convince me to get mad at him. “He got past our security. Multiple times.”
I chuckle at how indignant he looks. “I know. I was tracking him, remember?”
“How are you so chill about this?”
I shrug again. “I could freak out if you want me to.”
“No,” he says quickly. “Definitely don’t want that.”
“So, is that what you wanted to talk to Graycen about?”
He nods, looking shell-shocked as fuck.
“I’ll make you a deal,” I say. Time to get some answers while I have leverage over him. “You tell me how he’s been breaking in, and I’ll handle Graycen and the others.”
“Really?”
I nod. “And we’ll keep this conversation, and me knowing about this, a secret. Kind of a you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours, mutually assured destruction kind of deal.”
Not knowing how Xave’s getting in or how he knows so much about our security is driving me crazy, and that information is probably worth just as much, if not more, than knowing about him breaking into that room at Baxter House.
“Yeah, okay,” Damon says quickly, his relief palpable. “He has a program that has an interactive map of the house, including access to our cams. That’s how he can get in without being seen. Well, mostly without being seen, since you obviously saw him.”
What the hell? How does he have a program like that? Who built it, and how the fuck did they find enough info on ourhouse’s floor plan and security details to create an interactive map that can help someone evade our cameras?
“How many people have access to this program?” I ask.
“Just him and his cousins,” Damon says quickly. “But he’s the only one who’s ever used it.”
I nod slowly.
This is huge. A program like that could help us fill in the gaps in our own research on the house, and we can use it to revamp our security and tighten up weak spots the program exploits. “Get me a copy of it. I want to know everything about it and how the fuck it was created.”
“I will,” he promises.
“And tell him and his cousins to delete it and never use it again,” I add, giving him a pointed look. “I don’t give a fuck who they are, I will kill all of them if this comes back to bite me in the ass.”
“It won’t. I promise,” he says seriously.
