Devious Intentions (Carson Cove Scandals 3)

It was a risk, but I was running out of options—and allies. Anna was Jenny’s best friend. If there was anyone I could trust besides Damien, it would probably be her, but she wasn’t the one that I was going to ask for help. Bolt was able to break into Edgar’s computer like it was nothing. I also remembered what he said when my efforts proved futile. It made me wonder if maybe he could do more than just reset a password.

I made it back to the house, and it seemed like nobody noticed my sprint, so I headed upstairs to grab my things. It wouldn’t take long to get to the Carson Cove Library, but I didn’t want to waste any time. At least I had a cover story—the mysterious boyfriend that was taking up so much of my time. It terrified me to think what would have happened if anyone found out the truth. My mother seemed to have lost her ability to make rational decisions—she was Edgar’s parrot—echoing everything he said with a different inflection in her voice.

Everything looks peaceful downstairs. One smile for Pennington—one smile for Martinez—and then I’ll be on my way.

“Your mother says you won’t be joining us for dinner tonight?” Edgar’s voice stopped me in my tracks.

“No sir.” I turned around to face him and grimaced. “I have plans…”

“The guy you’re seeing?” He nodded. “What’s his name?”

“Uh…” I tried to think on my toes. “Hank! I work with him at the Pembroke Hotel.”

At least he is a real person that actually exists—even if he does have a girlfriend.

“Tell Hank that your mother and I would like to meet him tomorrow.” Edgar tilted his head and smiled. “He can join us for dinner.”

“I’m—sure he would like that.” I felt my heart beating in my ears. “Actually, he’s been asking when I was going to introduce him to my family.”

Wow, I turned the lie faucet on, and now it’s going full blast.

“Good. It’s settled then.” Edgar nodded.

I had officially painted myself into a corner. I was no longer an employee at the Pembroke Hotel. I gave Ms. Valerie the courtesy of quitting instead of making her fire me, but I didn’t give any notice—Hank probably hated me for that, so it was unlikely that he was coming to dinner at Sinn Manor as my pretend boyfriend. I didn’t think Edgar would try to verify my story, but if he did, it was as shaky as the image he projected that made my mother think he was just trying to be a good father. My lies weren’t going to keep me afloat much longer. I drove to the Carson Cove Library and circled a couple of times until I saw Anna and Bolt in the parking lot.

I can’t do anything to save you, Damien—but I will do everything I can for your sister. That probably means more to you than your own future right now…

“Thank you for meeting me.” I rolled to a stop beside them. “Do you think we could have this conversation in the car?”

“Sure.” Bolt nodded and opened the door.

“What’s going on with Jenny?” Anna sat down and turned towards me. “She hasn’t been to school all week. I mean, I get it—her dad is pissed off and has a reason to be, but making her drop out of school seems a bit excessive!”

“This is way worse than her not going to school.” I waited until Bolt was in the backseat and then parked my car. “Look, you two don’t really know me. I don’t really know you. The only thing we have in common is that we all want what’s best for Jenny.”

“Of course…” Anna face twisted into a worried expression.

“I really need some help right now.” I turned towards Bolt. “You said something the other night about not being able to take down a man like Edgar Sinn from his home computer…”

“Yeah, he’s not going to leave incriminating evidence on his desktop.” Bolt shrugged.

“Where would he leave it?” I leaned forward. “And more importantly—how would we get it?”

“Um, I don’t really know.” Bolt shook his head.

“Bolt…” Anna narrowed her eyes at him. “I think we can trust her.”

“We talked about this.” Bolt’s jaw tightened. “It was one thing when we were trying to help your sister, but Jenny kind of brought this on herself. She trashed her dad’s house!”

“He’s forcing her to get married.” I exhaled sharply. “This weekend.”

“What?” All of the color and emotion drained out of Anna’s face.

“Married?!” Bolt blinked in surprise.

“Something is going on. It’s really bad…” I felt my arms shaking.

I hadn’t been able to tell anyone about what was really going on at Sinn Manor. Once I started talking, I couldn’t bottle the emotions back up. I told them about meeting Damien—our relationship—my mother’s abrupt wedding to Edgar—and I even told them about the phone call I overheard. I took it past a simple risk—I laid everything on the line. It didn’t seem like the secrets mattered that much anymore. After my conversation with Edgar, my time at Sinn Manor was being counted in hours instead of days. They would realize something was wrong when I didn’t show up for dinner with the boyfriend, who was supposedly so eager to meet them. I wasn’t even sure if Anna and Bolt could help, but I was running out of options.