The Insiders Read online

Hell yes, but I only smiled. “It’s okay. You’re being protective.”

  He snorted at that. “Don’t know why. If anyone doesn’t need it, it’s him.” He was watching me again. The suspicion was still there. “But you’d know that much, right?”

  A hand reached inside my spine and took hold of it, in a viselike grip. That’s how it felt, because he was still testing me.

  Enough was enough. I pretended not to see it and moved away. “Hmm, yeah. He always was when he was little too.” Opening a shelf, I asked, “You know where the glasses are? If we’re going to have a drink, we need a few of those.”

  Hearing a door close from down the hallway, Kash must’ve gone back. He was alerting us, or alerting Matthew. Walking out, he yawned and tossed his phone on the couch as he passed it.

  I searched his face, but there was no indication he’d heard anything that was just spoken.

  He was a good liar, too. His eyes lingered on mine for a second before taking in the sight of us and everything on the counter. “We’re drinking? Didn’t you get in enough trouble last night?”

  I saw my brother tense up beside me. His hand gripped the neck of one of the bottles tighter. “One can never get in enough trouble. What’chu talkin’ ’bout, Willis?”

  Kash ignored the sitcom quote, padding into the kitchen and grabbing a tray of ice from the freezer. He slid it over the counter to us. “Fine, Matt. You want to have a few drinks, at least make them right, huh?”

  It was later, after Matthew went to the bathroom, that Kash grabbed my wrist and pulled me to a corner of the room. He folded his arms over his chest, staring down at me, and standing close. Way too close.

  Or that’s what I was trying to tell myself.

  “What’d he want?”

  He was studying me, but his eyes were first on mine, then dipped to my mouth. And lingered there.

  And stayed lingering there.

  And still more lingering.

  It was a sauna in here. Someone threw open the doors and hell’s inferno had started.

  I parted my lips, surprised at his proximity, but he wasn’t moving back.

  He needed to move back, or I’d do something we’d both regret.

  My hand was itching.

  God. His jaw. It was so smooth, so square, so strong. I was itching to touch it, or maybe his chest. That shirt looked smooth. Or his arms, how they were folded tight over his chest and the muscles were bulging out. How there was a dip between them and—

  He shifted closer, letting out a sigh and a hiss at the same time. “Listen.”

  My eyes flew to his, and I gulped because his were intense, seriously intense.

  He placed a hand on the wall behind me, trapping me in, but it was just one hand. His eyes were still boring down into mine, then fell back to my mouth.

  “This. You. Me.”

  I wanted to shift up on my tiptoes, getting closer. I didn’t, but holy God, did I want to.

  Then, suddenly, a barrier fell back between us. Not a literal barrier, but whatever was in his head. I felt the cold rejection almost physically. He moved back, his face becoming stone again, and I jerked back into the wall.

  I never felt the impact.

  He cursed, rubbing a hand over his face. “Jesus. What’d he want?”

  I couldn’t talk. A full three seconds. Crap, that rejection hurt.

  I croaked out, “Nothing. Just trying to say I don’t know you.” My own guilt pushed up, storing the other stuff away. “Look, I’m sorry. I wanted to explore your house. I wasn’t snooping as he keeps saying—”

  Kash clipped his head from side to side. “I don’t care about that. You’re a stranger. There’s no way I’d let you stay here if I had something of value in this house.”

  He wouldn’t?

  Yep. Wow. Another slap to the face. This guy was just doling out the punches left and right.

  “Your story was good.” He nodded in approval, shifting back from me when we heard the toilet flush. He raked me up and down. “You’re a good liar.”

  What I was going for in life. My highest goal achieved.

  Then he moved away, going to the kitchen as Matthew was coming back, and I had to kick myself. Why did I care if he thought I was a good liar? I was here to hide for my life. That was it.

  When the threat was gone, I was gone.

  ELEVEN

  “Mr. Colello.”

  A woman was knocking on his front door. She had a shorter build, maybe around five foot four inches, with a stockier physique to her. Coming to the second-floor loft area, I stood there a moment. She had dark hair pulled back in a fierce bun. She wore a black shirt that resembled a scrub top my mother might’ve worn for her shift at the hospital. Dark pants. Dark shoes.

  She was tough. I could tell. Her stockiness wasn’t from being overweight. It was muscle. She raised her hand to knock again. “Mr. Colello.”

  “Coming,” Kash called from his bedroom. A second later, he came out from under where I stood, pulling his shirt down over his shoulders. There was a rippling effect over his muscles from the movement.

  My mouth dried up.

  Kash was opening the door, stepping back. “Morning, Marie.”

  This was Marie?

  A small churning of unease started in me. She was the only other person who knew who I was. Because, after last night, there was no way I was going to Kash for anything. Yeah, yeah. There’d been attraction. I couldn’t deny that. But that was done with.

  I was way out of my league with him.

  By the end of the night, I was in awe, but also slightly horrified that this was the guy I’d be living with for the next few months. He had sealed the cover with my half brother to perfection. He’d been so good that even I was starting to believe him.

  I went to bed having to remind myself that I didn’t actually know Stephanie, and I never went shopping with her for a Thanksgiving tradition.

  “Yes, she’s…”

  They both turned to look at me.

  Crap. I didn’t hide in time.

  Marie had come inside, the door closed behind them. Neither smiled. Both just stared up at me.

  I raised my hand, then remembered. “Is Matthew still here?”

  He’d been the only one to get drunk last night, and when we went to our rooms, he’d been snoring from the living room.

  Kash looked tired. “He took off around four this morning, said he wanted to feel like shit in his own bed.” He motioned to Marie. “This is Marie, Bailey. Come down to meet her.”

  My legs felt like wood as I did.

  This was real. After meeting this woman, another stranger, I knew what was next. Going to the main house. Seeing my other siblings, my stepmother … that f-word. Peter Francis. Meeting him. I wiped my hands over my pants. They were suddenly shaking.

  “Miss Bailey.”

  The woman’s hand was strong, just like I thought. She pumped my hand up and down with a clipped nod, and her dark brown eyes were hard on me. This woman was not one to mess around.

  “Marie.” I was already terrified of this woman. “How are you?”

  She didn’t respond, her eyes just went back to Kash, who’d been watching the exchange. He shifted back, his arms crossed over his chest. Raking me over, a troubled look in his eyes, he shook his head. The look cleared.

  “Marie’s in charge from now on. You sleep here. You rest, do what you need, but other than that, she’s your go-to. Got it?”

  “Got it.”

  Seriously. I fought to keep myself from saluting him. That was not mature.

  “Uh.”

  Kash had started to return to his room, but paused and raised an eyebrow at my sound.

  There those hands went again, jerking a little. I held them flat against my sides. “Is there a way I could get my old laptop?”

  “Your computer?”

  “It’s like air to me. I need it.” Did Marie know? “I’m a hacker, Kash. The fact I’ve gone this long without my computer is a miracle. Be glad
I didn’t find one of yours in the house and go to town.”

  Marie studied me, her head tilted to the side. I ignored her. Kash only narrowed his eyes before moving his head up and down in a stiff nod. “Yes. You’re right. Peter’s the same.” He turned to Marie. “I’ll have someone retrieve hers, but get her an extra desktop from the house in the meantime.” He began to move again, then stopped. “You don’t have work to do while you’re here, do you?”

  “I was working on a new security program, but no, not really.”

  And that was all he needed. He spoke to Marie again, speaking in that authoritative tone, like he was used to giving orders. “If there are projects you need done around the house, put her on it.”

  Marie’s face sharpened. Heavy disdain lined her words. “Projects? Like what? Printing recipes for the kitchen staff?”

  “Like writing code for a robot rabbit that Cyclone is working on. Projects like that.”

  A robot rabbit?

  I perked up.

  Tell me more.

  I mused, “I thought intelligence was passed down through the mother.”

  Kash snorted, leaving for real this time. Disappearing down the hallway to his room, he called over his shoulder, “Who said anything about you being intelligent?”

  I started at that. Frowning.

  He just burned me.

  I jerked forward, calling, “Don’t be jealous, Colello, just because I could write a new program to lock you out of your own house and you’d have no idea how to get it fixed.” I was smiling. I shouldn’t have been, but I was. Then I turned to find Marie still studying me. Her eyes were harder than before, and that smile dropped immediately. “Hi.”

  Yep. They were slits now. “Don’t you mess with Mr. Colello.”

  “We were flirting. Foreplay.” I wiggled my eyebrows.

  I heard another snort from in his room.

  Marie didn’t get the joke. She turned for the door again. “You go and get dressed. Come to the main house. Be there in twenty minutes. Do not be late. You hear me?”

  Definitely don’t piss her off. I nodded, knowing I already had.

  “Yes. Got it.”

  She harrumphed before leaving and I was alone, still in my pajamas from the night before.

  “You’re fighting it.” Kash spoke from behind me. His hands were in his pockets and his head lowered. His hair was messed a little, giving him a dark and broody look, and it wasn’t affecting me at all. That little tickle in my stomach wasn’t from him.

  Nope. Not at all.

  I ignored it, and I also didn’t pretend not to know what he meant.

  He added, “We’re not the enemy, Bailey. Those men who tried to kidnap you, they are. Don’t forget that. I get you don’t like how you’re being introduced to the family, but it’s unavoidable.” His head lifted up, his eyes never leaving mine. “You’ll see that too, eventually, and you’ll be grateful.” He indicated the door. “That woman is almost a second mother to me. You hurt her and you and me will have a problem. I don’t have problems. I eliminate them. Got me?”

  Well.

  Crap.

  I nodded. “Yeah.” Then, “Are you sure my mother is safe?”

  “Going after the mother would hurt the child, not the target. Peter Francis doesn’t tend to care about his exes once they part ways. He doesn’t do it to be mean. It’s just how he is. His mind works in a different way. He’s on to the next project.” He began to step back toward his room, leaving me with, “I have a feeling you might be like that, too.”

  I wasn’t.

  I heard his door shut a second later.

  I wasn’t like my father in that way at all.

  TWELVE

  It felt wrong to walk into a stranger’s home alone. I felt like I was invading their privacy when I went to the main house, but no one cared. No one questioned me. No one even paused along the way to ask who I was, why I was there.

  The side door opened onto a hallway. Marble floors. Pure white walls. I heard people from one end and headed that way. Gold and crystal chandeliers hung from the ceiling. As I neared the door, people were hurrying back and forth.

  “One more!”

  “Tray’s done.”

  “Watch out!”

  Crash.

  Thud.

  “Oh no!”

  Clap, clap! “Let’s keep going. Not a moment’s delay, people.”

  More rushing back and forth.

  Coming to stand in the doorway, I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. They weren’t dressed like Marie, but they had a similar uniform. Their tops were blue with gold trim, matching the chandeliers, which were hanging above their heads in this room, too. They were in the kitchen, and when I say “kitchen,” I really mean a cafeteria-like room used to make food for an entire company. This room was double the size of the kitchen at my high school.

  I was pretty sure my mouth was on the floor.

  Twenty-plus people were inside, whipping around in a frenzy. Trays upon trays were being loaded, checked over, loaded onto a staff member’s shoulder, and carried out a separate door. Even how the staff member approached the door was a ceremony in itself.

  It was a three-person job.

  The person would hoist the tray up, stand at the ready, nod to someone at the door. That person would look out the window, nod to another person, and wait for a signal before opening it. They would follow it through, stand, hold it open. The person with the tray would whisk through.

  There were people at the grill. People at a separate stove. People dicing up other food, sliding it into containers, those containers being covered and then put into a line of fridges that lined one entire wall of the room.

  “Oh, sorry.” Someone bumped into me from behind.

  I glanced back, seeing the cutest little boy standing behind me. Bright blue eyes that looked almost like teardrops. Wavy blond hair, and freckles spread all over his tan face.

  This was Cyclone.

  I was dumbfounded.

  He’d been about to run past me, but when I turned to him, he skidded to a stop and stared up at me. He looked me up and down. “Who are you? Where’s your uniform?”

  He thought I was staff.

  Well, maybe I was. “Hey, kid.”

  He frowned, his nose pinching up, then he thought about it and burst out laughing. “Kid. I like that. I’ll call you Girl.”

  “Cyclone!” Marie hollered from inside the kitchen. She was coming toward us, waving. “Come here.”

  He saw her, gave me a wave. “Nice knowing you, Girl.” He took off running into the kitchen.

  “Cyclone!”

  He was laughing as he weaved around everyone. Two people lifted up their trays for him. Another toppled over, the tray of food spreading everywhere on the floor. The tray itself shattered into pieces.

  “Cyclone!”

  About three people were yelling. One staff member was holding back a smile, and still more were just shaking their heads in resignation. The far door was shoved open and he disappeared.

  “Marie!” One of the other women was coming our way, her face tight in anger. “He cannot come in here. He’s messing up our entire operation. That tray alone cost over sixty dollars, not counting the food loss.”

  “I know. I know, Theresa.” Marie stopped before she got to me. “I’ll talk to Mistress Quinn, but you know Cyclone.”

  “Seraphina wasn’t like that.”

  “But Matthew was.” Both women shared a look. The other one groaned as Marie added, “He was worse, if you remember.”

  “Yes, yes.” Theresa wasn’t happy. “I know, I know.” Her eyes caught on me and she stopped. She jutted out her chin. “Who is this?” She looked me up and down. “She doesn’t wear a uniform, and I’ve not heard of any new staff joining us.”

  “She’s…” Marie frowned at me.

  I stepped forward, time to do my part. “I’m a friend of Kash—” I’d been about to say Kash Colello, but that wouldn’t sell the part. “Kash’s. He
told me to look for Marie while he was working.”

  At the mention of Kash’s name, a hush fell over the kitchen.

  I’d been standing there, being invisible moments ago, but his name had everyone watching us.

  “Coming!” someone yelled on the other side of the door. When the door person didn’t answer, they yelled again, “Coming in—” The door was pushed open, and smacked into the door attendant, who was staring at me. “Whoa—agh!” The tray hit the person’s back, and the staff member caught it, but not the dishes. Two more plates clattered to the floor, shattering.

  Theresa whipped around, the spell broken. She threw her arm up. “Mick! Pay attention.”

  I was rooted in place, still feeling their attention as they got back to work.

  Marie sidled up closer. I dropped my voice. “Why?”

  For the first time since I saw her, a pitying expression graced her face. “Come with me. I’ll explain a bit more.”

  Great. I couldn’t tell my new family that I was family. I couldn’t tell the staff who I wasn’t, and Marie was feeling sorry for me. For some reason, I didn’t think that was a good sign. What wasn’t Kash telling me?

  We moved farther down the hallway before I glanced back over my shoulder. “What was going on in the other room?” But I was more distracted that I had just met my brother. Cyclone. He said I could call him Kid.

  Kid. Girl.

  We were off to a good start. Then I realized he might never know who I was.

  Pain sliced through me, cutting me deep, splitting me in half, and I had to stop a second.

  “Come, come.” Marie motioned me to keep going. “I’ll answer all your questions in my office.”

  I followed.

  I tried not to dwell on a sudden emptiness that took root in the middle of my chest. Down a hallway, another. We were weaving to a far corner. The sounds of the kitchen faded until it was only the sounds of our own feet on the floor. “Here we go.” She paused before a door, punching in a code.

  The door opened, and I was hit with the smells of cake and candy.

  She waved me in, going to sit behind a desk that was piled high with paperwork.

  This was obviously Marie’s place, and after meeting her at Kash’s villa, I expected to find an office room that was pristine and clean. Instead, her own desk was filled with papers and files. A counter was in the corner, filled with goodies and candy. Vanilla cake on a platter. There was a large table in the middle of the room, where crafts had been started and left behind. A pile of beads were spread out over one end, with wires next to it as a bracelet, half made, was abandoned. In another corner were three gaming chairs on the floor. A PlayStation was hooked up beneath a television, the consoles resting on the floor between the chairs and TV. A bag of chips was scrunched down between two of the chairs.