Dark Covenant (Living Covenant Trilogy Book 2) (16 page)

“I bet you’re right,” Aric said. “When can we get into his office and be assured he won’t catch us there?”

“Today,” Brittany answered. “He has a charity golf outing with all of the bigwigs at the school. He’ll be gone until at least eight.”

“Are you willing to get us in?” I asked.

“I’m not going to pretend that we’re ever going to be best friends, Zoe, but in this case Mark has it coming,” Brittany replied. “He used me. He might’ve killed my parents. I’m on your side on this one.”

“Thank you.”

“You’re still a bitch,” Brittany said, although she shot me a small smile. “I also can’t believe you managed to snag everyone’s dream guy and get a happily ever after.”

“We’re all still dumbfounded by that,” I said, causing Aric to smirk. “I’m sure things will get better for you once we handle Mark.”

“They’re already better,” Brittany said. “Now we need to make sure Mark pays for what he’s done. I can’t believe I had sex with him. It wasn’t even any good.”

“I hear that,” Paris said, causing everyone to laugh.

We had a plan. Now it was time to work it.

“
W
here did you get this
?” Aric grabbed my wrist and forced my hand up as I tried to pop the gummy boob – I mean eyeball – into my mouth. “I hid the rest of these last night so you wouldn’t get into them.”

I pressed my lips together and pasted my best “you love me and can’t yell at me” look on my face. “They just magically appeared on the dresser this morning.”

“You mean you went through my stuff until you found them,” Aric corrected, grabbing the small container of candy from me. “You’ll get sick again.”

“I can’t help it,” I protested. “I’m nervous. When I’m nervous I eat. If you see any pizza around here I would gladly trade these things for it. Greasy cheese and ham sounds really lovely right now.”

We followed Brittany down the narrow hallway that led to Mark’s office, keeping the argument up while matching her pace.

“Why are you nervous?” Aric asked. “We’re going to an office to look through files. You’ve been through a lot worse than that … and recently.”

“I have no idea why I’m nervous,” I said. “I … .” I narrowed my eyes as I glanced around, finally recognizing where we were. “Oh, no way.”

“What?” Aric asked, instantly on alert as he shifted. “Do you sense something?”

“She senses things now?” Brittany asked. “I shouldn’t be surprised. She somehow manages to steal all of the attention in whatever room she enters. I shouldn’t be surprised that she has more powers now.”

“You don’t know the half of it,” I said. “I can rip books apart with a single thought and sear werewolves in their tracks without lifting a finger.”

“Don’t volunteer that,” Aric ordered. “You shouldn’t brag about burning werewolves to a crisp.”

“I wasn’t bragging,” I clarified. “I was stating a fact.”

“You two are exactly the same,” Brittany said. “It’s depressing. My life is going down the drain and you two have everything you’ve ever wanted.”

“Stop feeling sorry for yourself,” I ordered. “It’s getting old.”

“I’ve had my memory back for only two hours,” Brittany snapped. “I think I deserve a little time to whine.”

“Well, make it snappy,” I said. “I can only take so much.”

Brittany stopped outside of a closed door and rooted through her purse. I shook my head as I studied the familiar setting. “I knew it. This is just … ridiculous.”

“Knew what?” Aric challenged. “What did you know? If you expect me to bow down and call you a genius you have to tell me what you knew before the rest of us. Otherwise it doesn’t count.”

“Does he really bow down to you?” Brittany asked, wrinkling her nose. “That’s a joke, right?”

“He only bows down when I’m naked,” I replied, enjoying a little thrill when Brittany scowled.

“I really hate you sometimes,” Brittany said.

“I really don’t blame you,” I said.

“Zoe, what do you know that the rest of us should know?” Aric pressed. “It’s time to share with the class.”

“This office used to belong to Sam Blake,” I said, resigned. “It shouldn’t surprise me that Mark has it now. I’m sure it was by design.”

“Are you sure?” Aric asked, scanning the hallway. “All of these professor corridors look the same. You could merely think it’s the same office.”

“I was here quite a few times,” I reminded Aric. “It’s the same office. I’ll bet Blake had books hidden in here – probably some of the very books I shredded at the Academy – and Mark was purposely located here to carry on Blake’s twisted legacy.”

“That was quite the mouthful,” Aric said, putting his hand on my waist and shoving me inside Mark’s office after Brittany unlocked it. Aric scanned the hallway to make sure no one followed, and then shut the office door. “Are you sure this is the same office?”

I ran my hand over the wingback chair across from Mark’s desk – the same back chair I had sat in so many times I lost count – and nodded. “It’s weird. I told you about that dream I had the night before we moved on Quinn’s compound, right?”

Aric nodded, his eyes conflicted.

“Will sat in one of these chairs in that dream, and I remember wondering what happened to the chairs. It was one of those weird thoughts that were so out of place you can’t help but remember it. I guess now we know.”

“Zoe, if this is too much for you, you should go downstairs and wait for us,” Aric said. “I’ll understand.”

I snapped out of my reverie. “It’s not too much for me,” I said. “I was just … it threw me for a second. I’m fine.”

“You have a right to feel whatever you’re feeling,” Aric said, brushing my hair from my face. “Don’t shut me out. I need to know what you’re thinking.”

“Seriously, how did you get him while I got stuck with Mark?” Brittany was back to her old self – and then some.

“I got lucky.” I shot Aric a small smile.

“We both got lucky,” Aric said, pressing a kiss to my forehead. “Everyone spread out and look around. We need any documents that may lead us to whoever’s helping him with the Academy, or whatever else he has planned.”

I opened the top drawer of the filing cabinet while Aric started going through Mark’s desk. I kept one eye on Brittany as she searched through the books on the shelf. I was so fixated on my task I almost didn’t notice the shift in Brittany’s demeanor.

“Um, guys … I think I found something.”

I jerked my head up and watched as Brittany pressed a button on the bottom of one of the shelves. The sound of mechanized gears whirring to life filled the room, and the middle row of shelves disappeared into the base, revealing a large board with hundreds of photographs tacked to it.

I pushed myself to my feet, my heart pounding as I closed the distance. The photographs were familiar.

“That’s us,” Aric said, moving in behind me. “All of these photographs are of us.”

My stomach rolled, and I was glad Aric had the foresight to take the gummy candy from me before I really did make myself ill. “These were taken at our house.”

“That’s where you live?” Brittany asked, her eyes widening as she took in the majestic cabin Aric had designed. “Nothing in my life is fair. I can’t believe you live in a house like that.”

“Aric designed it and had it built for us,” I said, reaching out to touch one of the photos. “This was taken out back by the bee hive.”

Aric shifted his attention to the photograph in question. “We were probably arguing about the bees when he took it. This one is us in the hot tub.”

I involuntarily shuddered and pressed my eyes shut. “Please tell me we’re not naked.”

“We’re always naked in the hot tub, Zoe,” Aric said. “I’ll rip his head off and shove it down his bleeding stump!”

“That was a lovely visual,” Brittany said dryly. “What about this one? Where was this one taken?” She pointed at a simple photograph. It was me in a black dress and Aric in his suave suit. We stood on the deck of a restaurant.

“That was taken at the engagement party,” Aric said, drawing me to him. “He was standing in the woods taking photographs. That’s right before the explosion.”

“Oh,” Brittany said. “You guys look happy.”

“We are happy,” Aric said, kissing my cheek. “He didn’t ruin our happiness. He only ruined our party.”

“He’s been watching us for a long time,” I said, moving closer to the collage. “This was taken when we visited that lake with your parents. That was more than a year ago.”

“This was taken when I took you to the zoo,” Aric said. “That was two years ago. He’s been watching us all this time.”

“Most of the photos of our yard look like he took them from the other side of the security fence,” I said. “They’re all from outside angles. He was literally outside looking in on our lives.”

“And getting more and more bitter by the moment,” Aric said, pointing to a photo that showed us laughing on the deck. I was on his lap, and in stitches from whatever Aric had said. “He saw us happy when he was miserable, and vowed to end it.”

“There are some files here,” Brittany said, grabbing a stack and splitting them up.

I sat on the floor and opened the first folder, glancing up when Aric positioned himself next to me. Our knees touched as we went about our business, but I knew he was keyed up. “It’s okay,” I said, grabbing his wrist. “We’re okay.”

Aric forced a smile. “I’m going to kill him.”

“Let’s figure out what he’s up to first.”

Aric leaned over and gave me a soft kiss. “I’m still going to kill him.”

“Here’s something,” Brittany said, pulling out a sheet of paper. “It looks like Mark has been trying to conduct research on your family, Aric. He keeps paying investigators, but they all come up with the same thing. If this correspondence is to be believed, he’s angry.”

Aric took the paper and studied it. “He’s trying to figure out where our money is,” he said. “I wonder if he thinks he can steal it. He’s an idiot if he tries. Our assets are insured, and not in one place. What a moron.”

“It looks like he was trying to track down my family, too,” I said, tapping my file. “He has photos of my parents’ house before it burned down.”

“I wonder if he knows your parents are renting a place by us while their house is being rebuilt,” Aric mused. “Remind me to call my father to have him increase security. I don’t want to take any chances.”

“Mark is probably scrambling to deal with us right now,” I pointed out. “Why would he go after my parents when we’re close enough for him to swat without putting miles on his car?”

“What better way to get us out of town?”

My stomach rolled. “I don’t feel well.”

“I told you not to eat that candy,” Aric said. “I’m throwing it away. I’m sorry I bought it for you in the first place.”

“It’s not the candy,” I said. “It’s all of … this. Shouldn’t we have known he was watching us? Shouldn’t I have felt his presence? You said I sense things when it’s important. Why didn’t I sense this?”

“I don’t have an answer for you,” Aric said. “My guess is that your inner danger alarm didn’t go off because Mark wasn’t an immediate threat. He was a distant danger at the time. You somehow know how to react in the moment. Don’t read too much into this. I’m the one who messed up on this one.”

“How do you figure?”

“I was on the other side of that fence more often than you were,” Aric explained. “I should have scented him.”

“You were on the lookout for paranormals, not disgruntled humans. You couldn’t have known.”

“I should’ve known,” Aric argued. “It doesn’t matter now. The fence is down and we’re not going back. Mark isn’t going to be a threat much longer. We’re not leaving here until he’s been dealt with.”

“I think I found something on the Academy,” Brittany said. “It’s on college stationery and it never actually spells out that it’s talking about the Academy, but it details how much money Mark is going to need if he wants to start his sponsored group and maintain it for a full year.”

“That sounds about right,” Aric said, taking the sheet of paper from Brittany. “This is dated two weeks ago. Mark keeps asking for permission to restart the group but this … Dan Lincoln … says that he can’t unless he secures the funding himself.”

“That’s why he wants my inheritance, isn’t it?” Brittany asked.

“That would be my guess,” Aric confirmed. “The space where the Academy used to be was mostly empty except for some gym mats and books. Zoe shredded both just to mess with him. I’m not sure how often he visits that space, but when he does go down there he’s going to find the surprise we left.”

“He’s also going to plug the security hole we walked through thanks to Rafael’s sources,” I reminded him.

“That’s not going to be a concern, because the Academy will be dead in the water without Mark,” Aric said. “Has anyone found anything else of use? If not, I want to get moving. We know enough. I need to call my father and get some backup. We’re moving against Mark tonight.”

I lifted my eyebrows, surprised. “We are?”

“I don’t trust him, Zoe,” Aric said. “He’s a threat to you. He’s a threat to us. The sooner we end him the better it will be for all of us.”

“He’s having a party tonight,” Brittany said. “He’s inviting a lot of people with money. I thought it was for some scholarship program he keeps talking about, but I’ll just bet he’s really looking for investors to fund the new Academy.”

“Then we’re definitely moving on him tonight,” Aric said, climbing to his feet and pulling me to a standing position. “We need to send a message to people who might be likely to invest in something like the Academy. They have to know it won’t be tolerated.”

“Okay,” I said. “I’m ready to go home, so I agree. If we’re lucky, we’ll be out of here tomorrow.”

“That’s my girl,” Aric said, grinning.

I returned the smile and then hurried over to the collage so I could remove one of the photographs. When I turned around, Aric’s eyebrows knit in confusion.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m going to frame this photo.” It was the one of us on the deck.

“Why?”

“Because I look really cute in it,” I replied.

“But … he took it when he was spying on us.”

I held up the photo. “See how cute I look?”

Aric fought the urge to smile and lost, finally shaking his head and giving up. “I like the way my muscles look in that photo, so I guess I don’t care where it came from. You do look cute.”

“See, this trip wasn’t a total loss.”

“You guys really are perfect for each other,” Brittany said, a heavy sigh escaping her pouty lips. “It makes me want to throw up.”

I tossed the gummy candy in her direction. “That will help you finish the job if you’re really interested.”

“Oh, well, thanks.”

“Don’t say I never gave you anything,” I said, laughing as Aric chased me out of the office.