Mr. Corporate (Mister #3) (30 page)

“Did they?” Oliver asks. “Give you the land back?”

“Not quite,” I say. “But I got a promise from Liam.”

“
Liam
,” Tori says, with equal parts sadness and disgust.

“What kind of promise?” Pax asks.

“I show them where the rest of the coins were and Liam would hook me up with a better family than the one I drew in the genetics lottery.”

“Better
family
?” Tori asks.

I nod, unable to look at her.

“They killed my dad as soon as the land transfer went through. And I got sold to the Conrads. Liam kept my land. Oh, it was developed a long time ago. It’s gone for good. Like it never even existed. Like my childhood never happened. But I have something they still want. Very badly.”

“You never told them where the coins were,” Five says.

I look at him and nod. “Hell the fuck no, I didn’t. I took those crooks to another underwater cave. Similar to the one I found. The entrance was too small for a grown man, so I had to be their diver.

“It was not an easy dive to the cave where the treasure was. It was small, and cramped, and there was no air chamber once you were in there. It wasn’t a scene from Goonies, you know?”

Pax and Oliver both shoot me a smile. I was obsessed with that movie as a kid. It felt like a movie about me. My life. I watched it a lot in the frat house. They watched too.

“It was dangerous and I only did it twice. Once, I took a single coin, just to look at it once I got back to the surface. It was fucking…” I stop talking for a moment, reliving that memory. My heart was beating so fast I thought I was dying. My hands were shaking with excitement then fear. My head was spinning, trying to wrap my thoughts around what was happening. “It was fucking gold, man.” I laugh, and when I look over at both Pax and Oliver, they’re smiling. Like they can feel what I’m feeling as I go back in time. “It wasn’t crusted with crap, like you see on copper coins. It was fucking gold.”

God, even if I wasn’t a little kid with a big dream, I’d still feel the same way if I found it years later.

“I didn’t go back down again for a few weeks. My dad was constantly drunk and pissed off. He was gambling like crazy. And losing. So I needed to work so I could eat.”

I glance over at Tori and she’s got a deep, deep frown on her face. I want to say,
See, I told you I knew what it was like
.

But I don’t.

“And part of me thought… it can’t be real, you know? I’m not the kind of kid who gets a lucky break. But my dad had been talking about that big poker game all week. The one with Liam. He was a regular on Nantucket. He had a huge mansion and a big yacht. He invited my father out to play. And I know now that Liam was planning that game all along. To take our land. So every day my father was going on and on and on about getting rich off Liam Henry in the next poker game. But my gut knew better. I knew something was wrong. And I imagined things going down a hundred ways, and each one of them ended up with me hungry and homeless.”

“So you went and got more,” Tori says.

I nod. “I dove down again, only this time I didn’t dare bring them up to the surface. I knew of another cave nearby. I got lobsters out of it often. It was small too. Not big enough for a man to fit. So I took about a few dozen coins and stashed them there, just in case I needed them quick.”

“A few
dozen
coins?” Oliver asks, stunned. “How many were there?”

“Hundreds,” I say. “Hundreds, you guys.”

“Go on,” Five prods.

“I took them to the second cave. I came back up with the stashed coins and I handed them over. That was the end of the treasure as far as I was concerned.”

“Did Liam believe you?” Oliver asks.

“No.” I laugh. “No, not even a little bit. They beat the fuck out of me for two weeks. But it was my first taste of power, you know? My first glimpse at what information gives you. And there was no fucking way I was gonna tell them anything. The Conrads intervened. They just wanted to adopt me. I was handed over with my eyes swollen shut, two broken fingers, and three cracked ribs. They took care of me, nursed me back to health. We left the island and all the memories behind and settled into a place in upstate New York. I stayed there for a few years, studying for the entrance exams that would get me into the right schools, and, well, you know the rest. I owe the Conrads everything. They’re not bad people.”

“They
bought
you,” Tori snarls.

“They took care of me. Sent me to good schools. Bought me cars and shit. I can’t complain about that transaction. And they saved my life back then. They believed me. And Liam owed them a favor. So they won. They got me out. They saved my ass.”

“Liam owed them what
kind
of favor?” Pax asks.

I shrug. “Who knows. Something big enough to steal a smart kid from a poor family and not get caught.”

Mysterious looks at me hard for a few seconds. “You’re lying.”

“I’m
not
fucking lying. Everything I just told you is true.”

“Then how the fuck does Stewart Manchester fit in?” Oliver asks.

“Oh,” I say.

“Yeah. Oh,” Pax says, mocking me. “Let’s keep this shit real, Corporate. We know about Stewart.”

“How?” I ask. “I’ll tell you, fine. Fuck it. But I want to know how the fuck you found out. Because if I need to cover my tracks—”

“Liam,” Pax says. “He knew about that, West.”

“Fuck,” I say.

“Yeah, fuck,” Pax echoes. “So continue, motherfucker.”

I glance over at Tori and let out an exhausted sigh. She squeezes my hand in encouragement. “I’m not leaving, West. Don’t worry. Whatever it is, I’m not leaving.”

I look down and start talking at the same time. “Stewart Manchester was a summer kid on Nantucket. He knew me before the Conrads. I didn’t come back to the island for years. It’s like my parents wanted to forget I wasn’t theirs, so we never came back. But I was in my senior year at boarding school and all my friends were going to Nantucket for summer break. So I went. I figured no one would remember me.”

“I’m guessing you didn’t count on Stewart’s long memory?” Pax says.

“He knew, man. He knew I was adopted. He said I had my father killed.”

“What did you do?” Tori asks.

“I fucking denied it,” I say. “What the hell was I gonna say? Yeah, all true?” I laugh. “But then he says, ‘I know about the coins too.’”

“Shit,” Five says out of nowhere. We all turn to look at him.

“Shit,” I say, agreeing.

“Did you kill him?” Pax asks.

I shrug. “He wanted the coins. I can’t even fit
inside
that fucking cave anymore. And I wasn’t going to just hand them over, anyway. So I made a deal. I’ll go get them, we split them, and then we go our separate ways.”

“So how did he end up dead?” Oliver asks.

“He and I met in international waters. He was alone on his boat. I was alone on my father’s boat. And… it got ugly.”

“You
killed
him?” Tori asks in disbelief.

“I didn’t…
technically
kill him. We fought, he went over the side of his boat. He never came back up. I left. I never got the coins. They’re still fucking down there in that cave for all I know.”

“And that’s it?” Five asks.

“That’s not enough?” I ask back.

“It just doesn’t explain what’s happening now.”

I stare at Five. “I don’t know what’s happening now.”

“You’re leaving something out,” Pax says.

I’m leaving a lot out. But he can’t really know that. He can’t, unless Liam told him what our second deal was, and he didn’t. I know he didn’t. He can’t afford to let people like Mysterious—people who treat secrets as a commodity—in on something like that.

“I told you the truth,” I say, adamant enough to make it sound final.

The room is silent as we all think this over.

“And now?” Pax asks. “Where’s this all stand now?”

I throw up my hands and sigh. “Here, I guess. With Liam double-crossing me and you guys looking for a scapegoat.”

“That’s not what this is,” Oliver says quickly.

“No?” I ask. “Then what is this?”

“What’s going on with your banks accounts?” Five asks. “That’s the last piece of your puzzle.”

“What the fuck are you talking about?”

“Your money, Corporate. What the fuck are you doing with your
money
?”

“What I do with my money is none of your business, asshole.”

“It is when millions of dollars in assets in your name are liquidated overnight.”

“What? I didn’t liquidate anything. I’ve got most of it stashed off-shore.”

“You
did
, you mean,” Pax says.

“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?” I ask back.

“If you didn’t move it, then they stole it, Weston,” Oliver says. “They stole all your money while you were stuck on that island. You’ve been cleaned out.”

“And that leads us to little Miss Arias. Right on cue,” Pax says. “She was part of that, West. You should know that up front. She was part of it.”

Chapter Forty-One - Victoria

“That’s not true!” I say. “How dare you accuse me! I was stuck on that island with him, you jerks. I have nothing to do with any of this.”

“You’re wrong,” Oliver says. “You’re the whole reason we got set up in the first place.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” I look at West, who stays silent. “West?” I ask. “You cannot believe them! I am not a part of this.”

“OK,” Five says calmly. “Let’s just take a deep breath and start from the beginning with you, Miss Arias.”

“No,” I say, stomping my foot down on the tiled floor. “No. My past is none of your business. I’m not rehashing this with complete strangers.” I look at Weston. “Please, West! Don’t let them do this. I told you. That was hard for me. You have to understand that. It was hard for me. I’m not sharing these very personal things with your friends. No.”

I feel the panic rising in me. I can’t talk about this to them. No. My heart is racing, and my legs are trembling. I hold my hand out in front of my face and find it shaking so bad, it scares me.

“Tori,” West says, pulling me into him. “Just take it easy. I think there’s a connection here, babe. And I think we need to know everything in order to put all the pieces back together.”

“I didn’t steal your money. It’s not my fault. I just answered the phone, that’s all!”

“What’s that mean, Victoria?” Pax asks.

But West hold up his hand and says, “Just hold up for a minute. OK? Just hold up.” He stands, taking my hand and pulling me with him. “We’re going upstairs—”

“Fuck that,” Pax says, standing up and pushing West back with a flat palm to his chest. “Fuck that. Do you have any idea how fucking serious this shit is, Corporate?”

“If what you guys are saying is true, then I just lost everything I’ve been working for the past ten years, Mysterious,” West says, eerily calm. “So yes, I’m pretty fucking sure I know how serious this is. I’m taking Tori upstairs to talk and we’re going to figure it out together. And after we do, I’ll let you know.”

I can’t look anyone in the face as West leads me upstairs.
It wasn’t me. It wasn’t me. It wasn’t me
. I keep chanting it over and over, willing it to be true.
It wasn’t me
.

It can’t have been me.

The stairs lead to a catwalk lined with wire cables instead of a railing. And the catwalk overlooks the living room, so I don’t have to move my head at all to see three sets of eyes staring at me from down below.

West leads me past them and into another part of the house. He goes by a few bedrooms and bathrooms, and stops in front of a set of double doors that open into an office.

He closes the door behind us, then twists the lock.

I meet his eyes. “What are we doing?”