Total pages in book: 99
Estimated words: 93002 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 465(@200wpm)___ 372(@250wpm)___ 310(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 93002 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 465(@200wpm)___ 372(@250wpm)___ 310(@300wpm)
I shook my head and glanced at Sterling, who watched me, her brows pulled together.
“Maybe it’s partly about the money,” I said. “I promised Sterling twenty-five percent. If rumors are true, it could be twenty-five percent of a lot, or it could be nothing.” Before they could interrupt, I pushed on, admitting, “The more I think about this quest and my father’s intentions with the Vitellius and the first code…it’s possible…” My gaze moved again to Sterling, wanting her to understand something I’d only just realized myself. “It’s possible that this was just a game he wanted to play with me. A challenge or an exercise. It’s possible there’s no money at the end at all.”
Sterling’s eyes flared, and I thought she’d already figured that out. She set her jaw and shook her head. “It doesn’t matter,” she said finally. “Maybe there’s money, maybe there’s not. We’ll never know until we see it through. And anyway…” She took in a harsh breath and blew it out. “Anyway, solving the last two clues brought us to Bob and Sugar Mae.”
“Bob and Sugar Mae?” Griffen asked, and I explained our progress through the clues.
Griffen let out a sigh and shared a long, speaking glance with Hawk.
“I don’t like this,” Hawk said to Griffen.
Griffen shrugged. “I don’t like it either.”
“You can’t stop us,” Sterling said.
Griffen stared at her for a long moment, and I got the impression he’d like nothing more than to lock her in the dungeons of Heartstone Manor until he was sure she was safe. I didn’t think Heartstone Manor had a dungeon, but I had no doubt Hawk and Griffen could build one with their bare hands if they wanted to.
They shared another long glance, and Griffen sat back. “You have to solve the latest clue before you leave Heartstone again?”
“I guess,” Sterling said. “I don’t know if I have to leave. I haven’t gotten that far. I’m not sure where to start with this one.”
“You don’t go anywhere without checking in with Hawk or me, understand?” Griffen asked.
“For how long?” Sterling challenged, leaning forward in her seat.
“Hawk and I will let you know.”
Sterling slouched back in her chair, glaring up at him, looking every bit the little sister she was. “You can’t make me a prisoner.”
“You’re not a prisoner, Sterling. Just give us a few days to make some plans to keep you safe. You can do that, at least.”
“She can,” I promised, absorbing her sharp glance without a flinch. “I know you want to solve this,” I said to her. “I do, too, but not if it means putting you in danger.”
“Fine.”
She didn’t look like she was going to put up with being on lockdown for very long. I hoped she wouldn’t have to. There had to be a way to keep her under the radar and out of the Learys’ reach long enough for her to solve the remaining clues. If we couldn’t—
I didn’t want to think about what would happen if we couldn’t.
Chapter Eighteen
STERLING
The meeting broke up, none of the men in the room looking happy with the outcome. Tough luck.
Hawk was the first to go. I followed him into the hall, leaving Griffen and Forrest behind.
“Hawk, hold on a second,” I called after him.
He waited for me to catch up. With his arms at his sides and a welcoming light in his dark eyes, he wasn’t the intimidating security chief from Griffen’s office. He was my brother’s best friend and my sister Quinn’s partner. And after all we’d been through in the last year, I thought he was my friend, too.
“Are you okay?” His eyes darted to Griffen’s door and back to me.
“I guess,” I said, not sure how to answer.
Did he mean, was I okay about the Learys stalking me for my code-breaking brain? If I was being honest, I was fine with it, probably because it hadn’t really sunk in yet. I was used to people wanting me because I was a Sawyer, or because I was pretty, or because I had big boobs and a nice ass. People wanting me for what my brain could do didn’t feel real.
Or was Hawk talking about Forrest? That was another thing I wasn’t really dealing with. “Yeah, I’m fine,” I said. “I wanted to ask—does this mean anything to you?” I pulled the mint tin out of my purse, still surprised Forrest had let me keep it. I opened it, handing Hawk the card inside.
Hawk studied it with his dark, serious eyes for at least a minute, turning the card over and flipping it upside down before handing it back. “I wish it did. You can’t tell what kind of cipher it is?”
“Not so far,” I said. “But there’s something about it. I feel like the pieces are connected, but they won’t fit together. Does that make sense?”