“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.
“We’ll see you tomorrow night,” Nolan said, stepping back. “I have to get up early for practice.”
Nolan, Marcus, and Will all said their goodbyes and headed to their cars, while I got into Adam’s with him. He switched on the ignition and sat there for a moment, looking over at me.
“You sure you’re okay?”
“I don’t know.” I rested my head on the headrest and looked over at him. “I should be happy, right? I’m not alone in the world like I thought I was all this time, but I just . . . ” I sighed heavily and glanced back at the building. “I just wish it would be that simple. I have a sister, the end. Not this.”
Adam reached over and put his hand on mine. “What do you need me to do?”
“I don’t know.”
“Do you want me to look at that folder before you dive into it?”
I shook my head and looked at him again. “I need to do it.”