Home > The Insiders (The Insiders Trilogy #1)(9)

The Insiders (The Insiders Trilogy #1)(9)
Author: Tijan

One, I was not shocked. Two, the way he said “Peter” told me so much more. He spoke about my father as if Peter were his father.

“What do they know?”

“My parents died when I was young. I came to live with the Francis family after that. I’ve stayed in touch with family on my father’s side and this was how you and I met.” He added, “We thought this would give you an added layer of protection.”

I frowned. “Protection? Isn’t me being at this estate enough?”

“We’re hoping, yes. But you’ll be staying in my villa on the estates.”

I—Huh? His villa?

“As in…” Alone? Was that what he was saying? “You and me?”

“You are coming to stay in my villa at the Francises’ personal and most secured estate. There will be people curious about you, but you will be asked to remain in the villa as much as possible. You are to keep a low profile. So yes, staying in the home I use when I’m at the Chesapeake estates is ensuring another boundary of privacy.” He paused, looking out the window. “For yourself and for the Francis family.”

For the Francis family. I jerked back against the headrest.

There it was again. I was not a part of this man’s family. He was making it clear.

Anger and hurt were grinding against each other inside, flipping over, squeezing my heart. Pain sliced down the middle of my chest.

I was there for my safety, nothing else. That was being made very clear, and I was starting to want to know my father less and less.

Consider myself checked. I was put in my place.

I was being brought to the estate for one reason only: so I wasn’t kidnapped, so Peter Francis didn’t have a child’s death on his conscience, but I was not one of his children. I was a lie. I was a cover. I was … I was someone that didn’t matter.

“When we get to the estates, you’ll meet Marie. She’s the only other person besides myself and Peter who knows the truth about you. She runs the estate and she’ll be a helpful asset for you. If you need something, you are to go to her. Not myself. Not your father. Marie. Consider her your handler of sorts.”

Kash and Marie, my babysitters, or hostage keepers.

Kash added, pulling out his phone. “Memorize the information. Your cover is the most vital. Matthew is already curious about you.”

My heart flickered. He was?

Kash scrolled over his screen. “He’ll be convinced you and I are having a torrid affair.” His eyes lifted, those eyes pinning me in place again, searing me. “It’s important that you maintain that you and I only have a friendship.”

My chest pinched together. He saw my reaction yesterday. He knew, and he was cementing it down. Got it. Nothing except business.

“Why?” I asked. “You have a girlfriend or something?”

I didn’t care.

But …

Did he?

Kash looked back to his phone, dismissing me. “If you are introduced as a love interest of mine, Matthew’s curiosity will know no boundaries. As of right now, he keeps to his hotel with his own security team, but trust me when I say that we do not want your half brother wanting to know you. He has a tendency to expose anything he can, if the mood suits him.”

I knew my place.

I was elevator music: annoying and in the background.

 

 

EIGHT

 

The Chesapeake was really Holy Crap City. The place was huge, and I was getting the gist of why Peter Francis had to name his places.

And yeah, I’m not using the d-word or the f-word.

If I was supposed to hide as his illegitimate bastard, well then, so was he. A bastard. And illegitimate to me.

After stopping at a huge security gate, we drove up a long winding driveway that went past two fountains. Not one but two. It was like we were in the middle of a golf course, with those types of fancy water fountains when you first pull up to the main lodge, except this place was bigger than a nine-hole golf course. And I knew that because I had to set up cyber security for Brookley’s golf course back home. Crap pay but they wouldn’t get hacked again. Not that they got hacked in the first place, because, small confession, that’d been me. I needed some quick cash. They needed better security. So I was really helping them out. See. Giver. Me. That was one characteristic they failed to add to my résumé—or so I was assuming. They only gave me a whole file on who I was supposed to be pretending to be.

“Since pulling past the gates, you have sighed, laughed, growled, and now you’re glaring.” Kash raised an eyebrow, looking so cool and collected. “Are you planning someone’s murder?”

“Maybe.” I gave him a meaningful look. “Yours?”

He only grinned back, his eyes dropping to my lips. Lingering. Darkening. “Well, that’ll be fun.”

The buzzing was back.

I ignored it. “So you live here too?”

He nodded. “I have a villa here, yes.”

I raised an eyebrow. “And you’re still not going to tell me what you do for my fa—” Damn. “For Peter Francis?”

His eyebrows dipped at my change. “You’ll find out. Eventually. Until then, just stick to the file. You’ve memorized it already?”

I tapped my head. “Photographic memory up here, Jeeves.”

I waited, but neither of us commented on where that came from. I loved my mom, but she had the opposite of a photographic memory. Show her something to remember and it’s the first thing she forgets.

We were going past a smaller brick building, with three garage stalls on the side. It looked like the security headquarters. Two golf carts were parked outside of it. A sidewalk wove past it on the lawn, sweeping up to the larger and main house, which is where we were heading.

And …

We went right past it.

It looked like a mausoleum, or a small medieval castle. It had brick and stone on the outside. A grandiose doorway that probably stretched up three floors just by itself. The steps going up to the doors put the steps at my last high school to shame. There were pointed arches on wings that were setting out from the house.

Then we turned, driving around the main building and heading to the right of it. I glimpsed the backyard, which was just as impressive. A pool. A tennis court. A cobblestone patio that stretched out and had different levels to it. One section had a campfire section, swinging chairs set up around it. Another section had a large grill and kitchen area built into the rock. A third section was where the sidewalk met the back of the house. There was more back there, but we were too far away for me to see it.

A whole line of trees blocked my view from seeing what else was back there.

We parked and I turned around, and my mouth fell open once more.

It should just stay there. I could start sweeping, get paid as a maid while I was here.

Jokes aside, I wasn’t fully gaping. On the outside, I probably had wide and alert eyes as I was taking everything in, but the mouth was cleaning floor on my insides.

The door opened, and I stepped out to see another mansion.

Villa was a cute word for this home. This was huge, just not as huge as the other one.

A cobblestone walkway led to the front, a whole white brick porch. A set of wrought iron doors opened to a front entryway, and there was another set of doors after them. And going through there, it was all man inside.

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