Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 91809 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 459(@200wpm)___ 367(@250wpm)___ 306(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91809 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 459(@200wpm)___ 367(@250wpm)___ 306(@300wpm)
It cursed me not to argue with her. Rafael, Cato, Wilder, Lucien, and Victor all said the same thing. Without a confession, we had nothing.
“Then we get her to confess. Put the pressure on her until she cracks.”
“How?” Katie asked. She typed something in her phone, giving us both half her attention. “We can’t come at her the same way. Piper and Gabriella joined the club, but Saylor and I didn’t. From what happened this morning, they’re on her side, so they won’t put in any dares for us. We can’t threaten her with removing her from the Royal line. We can’t turn the Royals against her. We’ve got nothing.”
“We know where the cabin is,” I put in. “What about an anonymous tip to the captain...?” I trailed off as they shook their heads.
“Luna, she didn’t do anything when you went into her office and told her that Everleigh tried to kill you,” Katie said. “What do you think she’ll do when a pile of evidence lands in her lap? She’ll destroy it. Crazy as it is, we have a better chance of protecting that evidence if the cops don’t find it.”
I groaned, flinging back. “I know, I know. You’re right. It has to be a confession, and it has to be public so that no one can deny, dismiss, or erase it. Okay, let me think.”
“No, I’ll do the thinking,” Saylor said. “You’ve strained your brain cells enough.”
Again, what did this girl think mean was?
The three of us fell quiet. The only interruption was Giselle bringing me another plate of food. That’s who Katie texted.
“Secrets.”
Katie and Saylor broke out of their musing. “What?”
“Secrets,” I repeated. “That’s the best leverage. Better than threats or money. We couldn’t dig up any on Everleigh, but you’ve known her your whole lives. There’s got to be something you know about her that she’ll do anything to protect.”
Katie shook her head. “We’re talking about her going to prison for the rest of her life.”
Actually, we’re talking about her death.
“We know a few embarrassing secrets, but nothing that she’d choose prison to protect. I mean, it’s obvious she was smart enough to hide any secrets like that. We didn’t know anything about the Book Lady.”
“You know the truth about her parents and how they treat her,” I offered. “You knew about Everton. She told you about meeting him when he was in hiding. Maybe we could use all of that somehow.”
Saylor worried her lip, making me stiffen. We shared the same nervous habit.
“She wouldn’t care about us ruining her parents’ image,” Saylor said slowly. “Everyone has always known they were a bunch of toxic assholes from the constant cheating, backstabbing, and naming her Everleigh out of spite. But if she’s doing all of this out of love for Everton, then that’s her weak spot.” She nodded to herself. “We shouldn’t be trying to find out everything about Everleigh. We need to find out everything about her bio father.”
“I told you everything Alistair told me, little Everleigh told you everything about her hero father, and the court transcripts told everything about his crimes,” I said.
“Not everything,” Katie said. “We know the crime that got him caught. We don’t know the rest. As it is, Everton Starling is just a footnote in Regalia history. What he did—leaking the lawyer’s strategy—that was bad, but of course, everyone blames the evil, abusive piece of shit that beat poor Davey Brennan to death.
“We need something that we can tie directly to Everton. Something so awful that it’d still be a scandal years after his death.”
I picked up her trail. “Something so bad that associating with anyone named Starling would ruin a Royal’s reputation. They’ll cut ties with Everleigh all on their own.”
“That’s good,” Saylor said. “That could work. But it only takes care of those traitorous bastards that tricked themselves into believing I can’t still hurt them. It doesn’t stop the T.O.D. Club.”
“Ugh! I could stop the T.O.D. Club if I could figure out what she uses to log in,” I cried. “Have you ever seen her with another laptop? Not a rose-gold one. Another one. Or could she be using the computer at her folks’ place?”
“Nah,” Katie said. “Definitely not at her folks’ place. Her room is a museum. Everything there is just for show. How about this? I’ll invite her, Gabby, and Piper over for the weekend. They’ll bring their laptops because no one can go that long without one. I’ll scope it out. See what I can find. If anything, I can get on Piper’s or Gabriella’s account and continue what you started,” she said. “Sabotage from the inside out.”
“That could work. Keep me updated,” I said. “As for learning more about Everton, I need to talk to William Burkhardt.”
Saylor cocked a brow. “Excuse me? Why would you need to talk to my grandfather? He had nothing to do with him.”