His blunt words stop my hands for a split second as my father hangs up the phone after giving me the order. If I find out that this was Ethan, which I’m almost certain it was, and if I can’t get him to repair the damage he’s done, I’ll have no choice but to show him the hand my father has dealt.
I spend the next few hours repairing the damage and patching up the firewalls as best I can, and then begin my search to track down Ethan. He may have vanished from the premises, and fled from our property and my life, but I’ll find him, and I’ll make him put back every cent he has stolen from us. If he refuses, then I’ll fuck him within an inch of his life before I put a bullet in his skull, because if I don’t then I’ll be joining him in death.
It takes me nearly a week to finally get what I think may be a location on Ethan, but that’s not the only problem I’ve got. His last name isn’t Beckett like it says on his file. Ethan Drake... the name rings a bell and I’m not entirely sure what it is about it until I start digging. It took hours of scouring through documents and files, but finally I found something. It’s a complete record of his background and family. That’s when I see it, the reason why he always felt familiar even though we were nothing more than strangers.
Picking up my phone, I shoot off a quick message and wait.
Sebastian saunters into the room looking as tired and disheveled as I feel, and I show him the pictures on the screen.
“Fuck, that’s our tech guy, Ethan? What’s he doing with Katy?” he asks, sounding confused and a little pissed off.
“Well, it seems that Ethan is Katy’s older brother,” I tell him shortly, and he curses.
He looks at me for a moment, and his eyes narrow with accusation, “I knew she didn’t do it. I fucking knew it. Quinn wouldn’t have, no matter how much she hated her. You’re a bastard, just like Dad is, Devin. This fucking mess, right here,” he says, gesturing at the screens, “It’s your fault because he fucking knows what you did. And you know what, Dev? Right now, I fucking hate you too.”
Chapter Sixteen
Ethan
A pounding on my front door rouses me from sleep. I roll over in bed to look at the clock, and groan. Five a.m. Who the hell is here at this time? I ignore the nagging suspicion as to who it could be as I sit up and scrub a hand down my face. Fuck. Grabbing a t-shirt and a pair of sweats, I quickly pull them on and head for the door. There was a brief lull in the knocking, but it starts up again just as I go to open it. I look through the peephole and let out a heavy sigh when I spy Devin through the tiny portal of glass. He looks furious and ready to kill.
I open the door. “What do you want, Devin?”
“Fix it now! Put back every penny you stole from us and fix the mess you made. If you don’t then you’ll force my hand. Because if I don’t do it, The Reapers will come for you!” he demands, pushing past me and storming into my house.
“How did you find me? And who the fuck are The Reapers?” I ask quietly, shutting the door behind him.
“If The Reapers get involved you won’t live long enough to know who they are. They’ll find everything you’ve tried to hide, including your true identity and that of your family, and you won’t be the only one to suffer. As for how I found you, well, let’s just say you’re not the only one who knows how to work a computer, Ethan,” he snorts. “After your little stunt, I did some digging of my own. I know exactly who you are, and what you tried to hide.”
“Well then you’ll no doubt be aware of what you stole from my family!” I shout, letting my anger at him get the better of me.
I’m pleased to see him flinch. He hesitates, unwilling to answer.
“Yeah, exactly. I know what you did, Devin. When the cops refused to investigate, and my mom told me who Katy had been seeing, I knew that your little Society was responsible,” I spit, laughing bitterly. “I wasn’t prepared for getting a front row seat to the footage of you with your hand around her neck. I saw you push her up against the wall and hold her there when she tried to fight you off.”
“She wasn’t supposed to die!” he bursts out. “My father ordered me to kill her, and I refused. She was eighteen and my brother’s girlfriend, for fuck’s sake. I told him I’d scare her away, so she’d never come back. It was an accident; I never meant to kill her!”
“You bastard. You let them cover it up, you’d murdered a girl and didn’t suffer a single day over it,” I sneer, disgusted. “Get the fuck out before I kill you myself.”
“I’m not going anywhere. You’re fucking wrong, Ethan. You think I didn’t feel guilty? That I didn’t suffer knowing that I had an innocent girl’s death on my hands, and all she did was love my brother. Did I think she deserved him? Fuck no, I didn’t. However, I didn’t wish her dead for wanting him. I’ve seen plenty of girls throw themselves at his feet, as they’ve done mine, all wanting the same thing from us. I didn’t trust her. I didn’t trust any of them.”
“So my sister wasn’t good enough for your family. Then why was I? What makes me any different to her?” I snap, balling my fists at my side.
“No one will ever really be good enough for my brother, not in my eyes. Was anyone ever good enough for your
