“Quite a bit, before he sadly took his life.” I know the smile on my face looks menacing because both of them pale and look at each other. “I just want to know more information about how you got Adri. That’s it.”
“What information? We went through an agency.” She says but the tremble in her voice betrays her lie.
“Jennifer Talia.” I say and watch as they both exchange looks.
“We signed an NDA, even if we wanted to talk to you-which we don’t-we couldn’t say a darned thing.” Her father throws me a smirk, looking so proud of himself.
“An NDA won’t stop me from slipping my knife out and playing cut and paste with your fucking faces.” I growl at them, letting them finally see me for who I am.
“Oh God.” Her mother’s face gets a nice sheen of sweat on it. “She could be as looney as her grandfather.”
“Look,” her coward of a father folds. “We were set up with Jennifer through Robert. We didn’t converse so much with her, we just explained we needed a baby and we were willing to pay.”
“Do you know where she got Adrianna from?” I ask.
“We only know it was in New York. One of the seedier places.” Her mother shakily replies.
“Why mess with her birthdate?”
“Because we wanted her to have a completely new life. We kept her back from school a year and Robert provided us with a new birth certificate.” Her father clears his throat.
“Good ole Robert, huh?” I rub my hand over my mouth. “Upstanding citizen. I’m going to need to see that NDA.”
“He wasn’t our friend.” Her father spits out. “He was an atrocious person, but we knew he had the ties we needed.”
Her mother gets up from the couch to exit the room, a few minutes later she returns with a brown envelope.
“Good riddance.” Her mother utters and takes a deep breath as she hands me the envelope.
“We just wanted an heir, we’re not parents, we chose to have this life and we made sure Adrianna had everything she needed.” Her father explains. “We couldn’t look weak and our family line needed to continue.”
“It’s water under the bridge at this point.” Adri stands. “I have a family now anyway.”
“We will fly back out tomorrow.” Her father nods at her. Then he looks at me as I stand up beside her and nods. “When we heard about what happened to Robert we were happy to hear it, you can pass that along to anyone who may have been involved.”
“Like?” I ask him with my brow raised.
“Like a certain female known to be taking out the trash.” His throat bobbles like a real fucking turkey.
“We were shitty parents,” Adri’s mother chimes in. “But we knew you were well cared for and unfortunately we know no different, we were raised the same. I’m happy you found… people.”
I guess that’s as close as Adri is going to get to an apology.
“Just keep that bank account stocked.” She retorts as she gives them the gun salute and exits the room.
I snort and cover my mouth with my hand, “I got her from here on.”
They both nod and I walk out of the ‘receiving room’ and into the foyer. Adri is waiting by the door with a big smile on her face.
“What?” I ask her.
“I feel like I’m free.” She shrugs and we leave the house. “Sorry we didn’t get much information.”
“I got this.” I wave the NDA in the air. “We’ll see if it can get us any closer to that bitch.”
Dinner in the compound is different. They have a few cooks that cook a spread everyday and it’s a free for all. Then there’s a large dining area that seats a hundred people at least and that’s where people congregate. It’s impersonal and nothing about this set up screams family. It’s like a work break room, only much bigger. This is no place to raise children.
“Silvio made the baked salmon today,” Emmett says as he sits beside me. “You better get it while it’s still there.”
“Is this how it was when you were a kid? First come, first serve?” I ask as I watch him shovel food in his mouth.
“Yep.” He says around a mouthful.
“Where does your brother eat?” I ask as I search for Carm among the crowd.
“Usually his office.”
“I’m done.” I push my plate away and stand up. “I’ll see you later, I’m gonna go chill.”
He just nods as he continues to stuff his face. I chuckle and ruffle his hair then make my way out of the dinner hall and head towards Carm’s office. When I get to the large double doors, two guards are there. Once they recognize me, they wave me by and continue their conversation about baseball. I open the door and peer in at a very disheveled looking Carm.
His hair is a mess of black waves on his head, his dress shirt is rumpled and untucked, and his eyes have serious dark circles under them.
“Bro, when was the last time you had sleep?” I ask him.
“Yesterday?” It’s a question.
“What’s going on?” I ask as I sit across from him.
“I misplaced important information and if it gets into the wrong hands then I might as well shoot myself in the face.”
“Whoa.” I chuckle. “Nothing is ever worth that. When was the last time you saw it?”
“Fuck, about a month after my father… passed away.” Murdered… by his own daughter he means.
“Okay, where did you have it placed?”
“In this locked drawer, no one can get in there.” He shakes his head. I bet Em can.
“Did you leave it unlocked at some point?”
“No, I barely use it.” He growls with frustration. “Trent is the only other key holder and he swears he hasn’t been in there.”
“Does he know about this item?” I ask him.
“Nobody does.” His eyes bore into mine.
“Cameras?”
“Not this corridor. The.. uh…
