“No.” She shook her head sadly. “Why?”
“Have you heard from him at all?”
“He sent me flowers the other day.” She smiled. “Pink lilies.”
“And you’re sure they were from him?”
“It had his name on it and was written to Baby Girl. Why?”
“Debbie told me your father had gone missing during a hiking trip with your brother.”
“My brother?” she laughed. “Now that’s bullshit. My brother barely goes outside. He’d never agree to hiking.”
“Then Debbie lied.” I felt my heart sink as I spoke those words. Was that possible? I’d seen the news article. One news article. “Your dad made me go to The Manor. He told me to pretend I was you. He gave me your car, your schedule, everything.”
“And you did it?”
“He told me you were missing. He said you’d gone to The Manor and then poof, disappeared.”
“Why would he want you to pretend to be me?”
“Because obviously someone is after you. After both of us.”
“Who?”
“I don’t know, but there’s more though.”
There was a knock on the door, followed by it opening slightly and Adam peeking inside. “We have to go. Marcus can’t keep the cameras down much longer without it looking weird.”
“I’ll be right there.”
He looked between Stella and me and nodded as he stepped outside again.
“Nolan Astor?” Stella looked at me, brow arched.
“His brother.”
“Adam.”
“Yeah.”
“I’m in a class with them.” She sighed heavily. “I miss my classes.”
“I went. As you.” I took a deep breath. “I think you should leave with us.”
“Now?”
“Yes, now.”
“They’ll know.” Her eyes widened. “If I leave, Neil will know. They’ll know we’re on to them. As it is, I had to bribe one of the nurses to make copies of your file for me.” She stood quickly and lifted one side of her mattress, taking a folder out and handing it to me. “You need to take this with you.”
“Just come with us.”
“I can’t.”
“I know you’re scared. I get it, but we can call a news station and tell them our story. If it’s out there in public, they won’t be able to lock us up, will they? Or we can hide. We can—”
“This is Neil and Debbie Maslow we’re up against. For all I know, they fired my father over this. I need to find more information on why they did this to us. Why would they keep us away from each other? Why not introduce us? Me staying in here is the only way.”
“We can find information together.”
“So, stay.”
“You know I can’t do that.” I clutched the folder and looked away. “If I stay, neither of us will have a way out.” I reached out and set my hand on hers. “Please come with me.”
“I can’t.” She blinked unshed tears. “I’ve been here too long. I’m scared of what awaits me outside of these walls.”
“You don’t think I’m scared? I’m terrified, but we can stand together. We can figure this out together.” I squeezed her hand and swallowed. “I also think I found our birth mother.”
“What?” Her mouth dropped. “Where? How?”
“In The Manor. They have photos. There’s a woman who looks just like us. There’s more, but I’m running out of time.”
“You need to get out of there, Eva. You need to get out of The Manor. You’re safer in here than out there.”
“I’m done with playing it safe.” I stood up, holding the folder to my chest. “I need truth.”
“Truth always comes with a price.”
“I’m ready to pay whatever it costs.”
Chapter Twenty-Nine
“How was it?” That was Nolan.
“As weird as it would be if you just met Adam for the first time tonight.”
“I can’t imagine.” Nolan stopped walking in front of the building, and we all stopped with him. A male figure walked out of the building and started walking toward us. I froze. “That’s Marcus,” Nolan said.
Marcus was a brown-skinned, green-eyed guy with curly hair. He was as cute as he was tall, and he was incredibly tall.
“He’s Dominican too,” Nolan said. “But he’s legit Dominican.”
“At your service.” Marcus grinned. “You’re Eva?”
“Yes. It’s good to meet you.” I felt myself smile because of his infectious smile.
“I’m glad we got that out of the way.” Adam took my hand in his as he stood beside me. “Did you get the cameras back up?”
“Do cows moo?” Marcus cocked his head. “I also made it so there’s less of a time lapse between the time they went down and back up. You guys took longer than the fifteen minutes you promised.”
“She was meeting her sister for the first time. She couldn’t exactly rush that.” Adam squeezed my hand tighter.
“I’m just saying, you have a five-minute window of nothing on the system, so it’s not as seamless as it would have been if you’d only taken fifteen minutes,” Marcus said. “My cousin said they don’t check the cameras anyway unless something is really wrong.”
“Your cousin works there?” I asked.
“Rolando Fernandez. He’s worked there for years. Started out as a janitor and worked his way up to head of security. You know him?”
“No.” I shook my head. “Maybe if I see him.”
“Maybe.” Marcus shrugged a shoulder. “Anyway, he wasn’t exactly thrilled about our little rendezvous.”
“I can’t imagine why. Adam paid him a lot of money for this,” Nolan said.
“You paid him?” I glanced up at Adam.
“Silence isn’t free.” Adam shrugged a shoulder.
I tuned them out as we walked toward the parking lot. I’d been so focused on getting in there, meeting Stella, and getting out, that I hadn’t stopped to think about all of the effort it took to do it without being discovered. I guess if it had been up to me, I would have gone in there without shutting the cameras down, looked for her, and probably gotten caught along the way.
“What’s that in your hand?” Adam nodded at the file Stella had given to me.
“My file.”
“She took it?” His brows rose. “How long will that go unnoticed?”
“She said she paid someone to make copies.”
“Damn.” He glanced over his shoulder. “Do you think she’ll tell anyone about tonight?”
“I don’t know.” I chewed on my bottom lip. “I don’t know if I trust her not to.”
“If one of us goes down, we all go down.” Will set his hand on my shoulder. “We’re here for you, Eva.”
“We all are.” Nolan and Marcus came forward and set a hand over Will’s.
It was odd, but feeling the weight of their promise on my shoulder made me feel invincible. Maybe that was the beauty of the secret society. It wasn’t about the network and connections. It wasn’t about the money. It was about the camaraderie, because having one another’s backs and taking the fall for and with someone was the ultimate sacrifice.