I’d forgotten to mention what I’d learned about Sylvia to her. I wasn’t sure I wanted to. With what I learned about her involvement and knowledge in certain extracurriculars by way of her father—that I didn’t know if she talked to—I was not in a very sharing mood.

More secrets to hold that would tear us apart, according to Madame Dina.

I nodded, offering up a smile as I poured orange juice. Looks like we both have our secrets. “I’ve been briefed again and again since Evans started dragging me in early. James has been filling me in on details when he comes inside, too. I wasn’t technically supposed to be involved until I was twenty-one, but I’m happy I started now. It’ll make things easier.”

She flipped the omelet, the spatula scraping the pan, the only sound between us while she pondered what I said. “How come you’ve not been involved even earlier? Like when you were eighteen?”

“Good question,” I said. An answer we had yet to fully investigate.

Sylvia had been doing a lot of damage, and I had a few short months to figure out how to stop it.

“Well, I’m off on a date after breakfast,” she said, breaking up my train of thoughts by dishing up two plates with omelets, bacon, and toast.

The silence between us was less than comfortable, full of words that needed to be said, but wouldn’t be. It made me think the fortune reader may have been right in her prediction.

There were many dark paths that lay ahead of us.

“What’re you planning to do on your date?” I poked around with my fork, hoping to break the weird silence.

She clicked her tongue. “He wants to go golfing and then lunch at his family’s country club. He has no idea I’m about to wallop him with a good game of golf.”

“Ever the athletic prowess, and I didn’t know Shane was part of a country club,” I said with a mouth full of food. “I, on the other hand, have a date with a very old man. ”

“Eww! Make sure he leaves you all his money, though,” she snorted, avoiding talking about Shane. She was usually very talkative about her male ventures.

“Very funny.”

The compound for the Vaughn residence was intimidating. It was mafia style. It was an empire dressed as a mansion. The scale of every building had me holding my breath as I stepped out of the car. So, this is what wealth looks like. The compound sprawled like a small city–straight out of a movie, where power dripped out of every corner. Every shadow told of the control the Vaughn’s held