I frowned at that. “What are you thinking, mate?”

  “I’m thinking East has a point. But we can’t not do this. He’s our mate. We’ve had a very busy year, obviously. With everyone getting hooked up and all that, and the level of danger we’ve all been in, maybe he thinks we don’t give a fuck. You’re right, Bridge. We should’ve done something about this months ago. But we’re here now. And we have to try and do what we can. He’s our mate. Our family. Our brother.”

  I nodded. “Right, my phone just chimed. He’s winding up the drive now.”

  Sure enough within thirty seconds we could hear the crunching of the gravel as his tires rounded up to the front of the mansion.

  On the security camera, the guards already had him flagged.

  They’d been instructed to not allow him to leave because chances were he’d be well into the scotch the moment he got here. I put away all the bottles I could find. But he knew this place as well as I did. Maybe better, because he actually liked coming here as a kid, and he might find something.

  We didn’t want to fight with Drew; we wanted to help him. We needed all of us functioning at peak, and Drew had been on fumes for months. Possibly all year. We should’ve helped him earlier.

  The front door opened with a bang. “Oi? Where is everyone?”

  “In here,” Ben called out.

  East finally put down the crisps, looking suddenly green around the gills. Oh fuck. His empathy was really going to be a problem. I could see him contemplating whether or not those crisps had been a good idea. His gaze met mine and he shrugged. Oh yeah. He wanted to vomit.

  Drew sauntered into the kitchen. “Hey what’s up? When did you guys get here?”

  Ben shrugged. “Just a minute ago.”

  “Where’s everyone’s cars?”

  “Garage,” I muttered.

  He rolled his eyes. “Yes, I’ve got the family sedan. As soon as the baby is old enough, I’m turning in the respectable Beemer for something fun and fast.”

  East rolled his eyes. “Do you even know what fun and fast is, Drew?”

  Drew flipped him off and immediately went to the cupboard, looking for the tumbler glasses and then frowning. “What happened to the liquor cabinet?”

  I glanced over to the bar area between the butler’s pantry and the kitchen. “Need to restock.”

  He laughed. “Restock? Damn, how much do you and Emma drink? You’ve been living here, what, three weeks and already cleared it out? I mean I knew she was a handful, but damn.”

  I smirked, but I didn’t say anything. Neither did East. Ben stepped forward. “Mate. Listen, I-“ But before Ben could get another word in, Drew was in the fridge rummaging around looking for beer. “Oh come on, no beer either?”

  I shook my head. “Like I said, we need to restock.”

  He sighed. “So what you’re not telling me is Emma hid all the liquor. She’s already got you on the ball and chain. Angela’s the same way, but I found her secret stash. The fact that I have to hide in my own house when I want to have a drink is just shite. Emma have a stash?”

  Ben and I exchanged glances and East stepped up. “Mate, it’s enough.”

  Ben and I stared at East. We were supposed to do this a lot more delicately, but East had gone off book.

  Drew lifted a brow. “What’s enough?”

  “The booze, man. You’re hitting it a bit hard.”

  Ben and I scrambled to try and recover.

  East stepped forward, clapping a hand on Drew’s shoulder. “Mate. We’ve just been noticing a lot of scotch making its way through you. Things have been pretty hectic for a year, and we understand. We have been distracted, but we should’ve noticed earlier. We're sorry.”

  “Yeah, mate." I added. "Sorry we haven’t done this already. We just want you to be better.”

  He frowned. “What are you on about?”

  East, usually the more sensitive of us, snorted. “Mate, we’re trying to tell you you’re drinking too much.”

  Drew shook his head. “No, you are not doing this to me. No. I’m tight, mate.”

  Ben shook his head. “You are not.”

  He talked fast. “I have been hitting it hard. I’m aware. I know that makes you nervous. And it should, but I’m on it.”

  Ben shook his head. “Mate. It’s okay to not be all right.”

  Drew crossed his arms and started to pace. “Look my dad and everything… It’s been difficult, but I have it under control.”

  Ben nodded. “No one’s saying that you can’t do this. No one’s saying that you can’t handle it. We’re saying you don’t have to do it alone. Obviously this is rough, mate. It’s been a fucking difficult year. We’ve all been doing everything we can, what we need to do. But the drinking, we’ve seen it, and that’s not a good way to handle it.”

  He shook his head. “I can stop. It’s just an automatic response when I’m stressed out. I don’t even like it.”

  East scoffed. “You’re telling me you drank my expensive Macallan and you don’t like that shit?”

  Drew shook his head. “It just numbs the pain. It could be rubbing alcohol for all I care. I don’t want to drink all the time, it just numbs me.”

  I nodded. “Mate, if you need to be numbed like that, please get some help. That’s what we’re trying to say here, and I’m sorry my shit has taken over our lives fucking again. Things started getting bad when East and Nyla were getting together. I could see it then, but I didn’t say anything or try to fix it.”

  Drew glared at me. “I don’t need fixing, mate.”

  I sighed, lamenting the wrong choice of words. “Not saying you need fixing. But I should’ve helped you.”

  He swallowed hard. “Look we’re almost done, okay? We’ve almost got him. We need this. So give me a month. If we’re finished in a month, I will go wherever you want. Get sober, boring, the whole thing. If we’re not done in a month, I’ll back out. I’ll leave the Elite. Walk away.”

  Ben shook his head. “We don’t want you to leave, mate. We need you. We need all of us to either transform the organization or tear every last inch of it down. We need you.”

  Drew shook his head. “Look, either way we need a month. If we don’t have Middleton, we’re fucked anyway. I’ll go. I hear you, and I’ll cool it. I know you need me sober.”

  East marched over and offered Drew some crisps. “Mate. This is a bad idea. You need help now.”

  He nodded. “And I hear you. I absolutely understand what you’re saying. But we need to finish this. He killed our friend, and I want him to fucking pay. So let me help until this is done, and I can stop or at least cool it while we work, okay?”

  I didn’t like the idea of being a man down, but I didn’t like the solution of him just stopping on his own either.

  “Will you talk to us? The moment you want to drink, you call one of us. Get yourself into AA right now. No fucking around. It’s a weekly meeting, and you need to do it.”

  He nodded. “Yeah. Okay.“ He shoved his hands in his trousers and looked down at his Oxfords. “Thank you, all of you. It’s easily ignored for a long time, but knowing that you guys give a shit, it matters.”

  East grinned at him. “Of course we give a shit. We love you.”

  Drew squinched his face. “Oh fuck, mate. Are you gonna hug me?”

  East nodded with a wide grin. “Yup, get comfortable. We’re gonna go chest to chest here, gonna hold it for like three seconds, yeah?”

  Drew shook his head. “I don’t think—“

  But he couldn’t move away fast enough, and East enveloped him in a hug. And East did not let go. It lasted way more than three seconds, but you could see it… the way Drew’s body sagged. He fucking needed that hug. We all did.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Bridge

  “So what you’re telling me is that you two badasses couldn’t fucking solve this problem?”

  I chuckled to myself as I sat back watching Ariel scold Telly and East. East lifted a brow. “You try breaking in. We’ve been at it for weeks. The firewall protocols are insane."

  "You should’ve called Matthias. He's good. Could have helped. Also, he's easy on the eyes."

  From the other room, Tristan called out. “I can hear you.”

  Ariel just grinned cheekily. “My eyes still work, love.” When she turned back, she winked. “He’s very pretty and has that whole psychotic-killer vibe. But I’m very good with my hands too.”

  Telly snorted. “I fucking forgot how much I missed you.”

  Ariel shrugged. "I'm pretty awesome.”

  East just rolled his eyes. “Can we go ahead and crack this thing, or what?”

  Ariel didn’t miss a beat. “Yes, East, you are very pretty too.”

  He laughed. “Oh, I’m better than pretty. I’m also very good with my hands. But you don’t need to know that.”

  Ariel coughed a laugh. “Well then. I love the confidence. Now if only it were related to hacking.”

  East scowled at her then. “Oh, busting my balls?”

  “If you can beat me, let’s do it.”

  East scowled, but he gave her access to one of the machines. I couldn’t help standing over them, mentally imploring them to find a solution.

  East noticed my hovering. “Oi, mate, you can’t hover over us.”

  “I haven’t said a word. I’m just standing here looking on.”

  Ariel smirked at me. “Don’t you have something to go play with? I saw some fancy cars in there, go tinker with one of them.”

  I shook my head. “Not until we find a solution.”

  She sighed. “Fine, I don’t mind being watched. That’s for you, East.”

  East threw up his hands. “One time. Someone tells you I like to watch, and no one ever fucking forgets it.”

  I chuckled quietly. And he had the nerve to look at me like I was some kind of traitor. The three of them split up parts of the drive to start trying to sift through it.

  It didn’t take even a couple of minutes before Ariel was whistling under her breath. “Jesus Christ. What is on this thing?”

  East shook his head. “I don’t know. I increased my server power, and we should have access from here, but there’s so much data it would take a supercomputer weeks. Even with the power of three supercomputers it’s still taking forever. Never seen anything like it.”

  Telly leaned forward and frowned. “No, I’ve seen something like it I just can’t believe what I’m seeing. This is the kind of data you see on NSA level shit. And even then when you break into something like that, you’re poking around for something very specific. You’re not trying to access all of the NSA at once.”

  I frowned as she said that. “Do you think that this is that kind of data?”

  She shrugged. “I don’t know. I mean at the end of the day, what is the purpose? Why would he need this kind of data? Yes, he runs a communications company. But it’s not like they’re telecom where they have to have privacy firewalls like this, right? This isn’t for work. This is personal.”

  Ariel frowned as she peered at the computer East had given her. “But that doesn’t even make sense, right? Because who carries around that kind of data? This is from his work computer, right?”

  I nodded. “Emma was able to copy the drive, and we grabbed his phone too.”

  “That’s what’s odd about it. It’s like it’s a shadow drive. Which means it’s really just carrying the relay points to something much, much larger. Something so astronomically big it would take forever to open. Even these touch points. It’s not something you carry around on your computer. This doesn’t make sense. Why would he need access to that kind of data? That would be stored on company servers, and he’d have access every day at work. But if there’s a massive server farm somewhere, he’d carry around this kind of data to be able to touch his relay points at any given time. What is he doing?”

  East started playing with his stress ball and frowned. “Okay, if we’re thinking about a large quantity of data, that’s usually information and algorithms like the NSA, CIA, her Majesty’s Secret Service use. Then we’re talking satellites, tracking, massive telecom. But that’s not what Middleton really deals with. So is it possible he’s throwing satellite data for some personal reason?”

  Ariel’s brows lifted. “It’s possible, but why? And what satellite data? There’s no way he could hold all of that on a laptop even if he’s just storing the relays. We need more to go on.”

  Telly shuddered. “I’ve got an idea, but it's super creepy.”

  I shrugged. “Right about now, we’ll take anything.”

  “Obviously, Middleton knows where the bodies are buried for all his clients. He’s meticulous, a planner. Pure psychopath. What about the women he’s terrorized? His next victims, what if he’s tracking them and keeping a live, constantly running stream of their whereabouts and their doings?”

  East's gaze ping-ponged between Telly and Ariel. “You’re joking. Look, I track people with Bird’s Eye. But that’s intermittent. To shop that information at all times, to know where they’ve always been, is a vast amount of data."

  Ariel shrugged. “It would also give you patterns to help you predict their behavior. And if he’s watching someone, wanting to know where they’ll be, what actions they’ll take, it’s a smart thing. And if he can get close enough to them, he can tag them, right?"

  Ariel laughed as she continued. “Even in the palace, we’re constantly sweeping. Last time there was even a minor threat, we made them shed clothing in extreme locations. Switched cars, switched drivers. I mean, if one time your bestie almost dies, you learn quickly to not take chances. To always know where someone is to predict their behavior and where they’re going to be, it makes you godlike. It also makes it impossible for that person to escape. It’s terrifying.”

  I ran my hands through my hair. “All right call Weller. Let him know what you think you’re going for, and then confirm. It’s all we can do, right? We’re gonna find out who his fucking targets are.”

  Ariel and Telly turned to their monitors and got to work. East slid me a gaze. I knew what he was saying. If he had us on some kind of predicted pattern, nowhere was safe. Not for me, not for Emma, not for Darcy, not for Mum.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Emma

  “I want to know why we were assigned gossip?”

  Penny harrumphed. “I can fight. I’m a pretty good fighter actually. And has Sebastian forgotten that I have saved his life more than once?”

  Jessa laughed. “No one’s forgotten.”

  Ariel bumped her shoulder. “Besides, this is fun.” The mass of us had swarmed into the beauty salon, laughing and joking. Ariel was busy checking out the toenail colors. “What do you think of this? Hot pink.”

  Penny squinched her face. “With your hair?”

  “Yeah, I know it’s a bit much. But on my toes, you won’t really see it.”

  Bryna picked up a pack of glittery jewels from one of the stands. “What is this for?"

  Me, Penny, Jessa, and Ariel all doubled over laughing. “Oh my God.” Penny said.

  Ariel hooted. “Now see, if you’d said pink was not my color for that, I would agree a hundred percent. Oh my God. Bryna, you must.”

  Bryna shook her head. “No. I will do no such thing.”

  We were all snorting and teetering with laughter. It made me realize how much I’d missed my friends, my family. “All right, fine, but if we’re daring Bryna to do it, we all have to do it.”

  Penny snorted, and Liv shook her head. “No, there is no way I’m applying sticky jewels to my vag.”

  Ariel, always ready with the comebacks, said, “Wouldn’t be the first sticky thing you’ve had near your vag.”

  The snorting, hooting laughter continued.

  Penny was doubled over laughing herself. And then surprisingly, the queen of a whole country met Ariel’s gaze and said, “No, my man has great aim. He knows where the sticky stuff goes.”

  Under my breath, I muttered. “On your back?”

  More laughter.

  We were making such a ruckus that the woman behind the nail counter lifted her brows at us and cleared her throat.

  I sobered immediately. We had a job to do today.

  I might not have been completely on board with Bridge’s plan before. But knowing what these men had taken from me, knowing the lengths to which they had tortured my family and friends, I was done playing by any kind of rules. They were all going down. Every fucking last one of them. We were all assigned our tasks. I had taken some fancy tech from Telly, who was horrified not to be joining us. But Carmen was back from Bristol, and the two of them were working out their baby/no baby issues. She wanted to be FaceTimed in, but she also had a business to run. So there was that.

  I’d already made all the arrangements when I made the appointments. First target was Camila Martinez. She worked for People, but she also had an amazing blog where she posted celebrity stuff. It was often picked up by gossip shows. I sat down next to her with Ariel on her other side, and we smiled politely at her. Ariel leaned over and said just loudly enough, “I cannot believe his wife. I mean he’s a lord for the love of God, and she’s fucking that actor.”

  Camila, deep in her magazine raised a brow. Yup, we had her. “Yes, Austin,” I said. “I saw them myself coming out of Prohibition, necking like teenagers before he put her in her car. I mean, imagine what her husband would do to him.”

  “Oh, but he’s an actor. Isn’t he untouchable?” Ariel said.

  “I guess, but we’re talking about a lord with money to burn and an attitude problem. He will call every producer he can find and blacklist Austin. A year from now we won’t even know his name. Unless it’s an open relationship type of thing.”

  We’d all rehearsed our lines. Knew exactly what to say. At this point, Camila was not even bothering to pretend to read her magazine. She was looking ahead, sitting perfectly still and clearly paying attention to everything we said.

  She leaned close. “I’m so sorry. I don’t mean to interrupt. But are you talking about Austin Burgess, the actor? He’s in an open relationship?”