Page 55 of Drilled

Bear made a gesture of agreement but Sy wasn’t on the same page. He also rose to his feet, giving me an apologetic look. “Lane, I get why this has you spooked, but maybe we should just turn everything in to the cops. That’s the safest option.”

“Yeah, if you wanna find yourself buried under someone else’s house,” Dax countered.

“Well then what would you suggest? Seeing as you know so much about this shit,” Bear asked.

“Time to think and a deeper look,” Dax said. His eyes found mine. “You have to be careful with these kinds of things, Lane.”

“Hence why I suggested we take everything to the cops,” Sy grumbled.

“I’m not taking it to the cops and I’m not digging further,” I said definitively.

The three of them turned to face me sharply. I took a deep breath.

“I see what you’re all saying. And I know that you’re all trying to do what you think is best here. But…I need to think about it for a while. For now, I think I want to keep it buried. Sit on it until things clear up.”

None of them really looked like they agreed with me. But in turn, each man nodded, offering a silent show of support for my decision. What I didn’t tell them though, was that I was afraid.

I was scared of what digging further would mean for my uncle’s legacy, and in turn what that would mean for my ownership of this house. If I uncovered the source of the ledger and more proof of illegal activities taking place here, then I’d have no choice but to turn it in. And there was the sinking feeling of what I might discover about who Uncle Ricky was. I made my living off of finding missing pieces and stitching them together. This was one case I didn’t want to connect.

I looked at each man, forcing them to catch my eye. “Promise me, all of you, that you aren’t going to do anything about this. Don’t breathe a word to anyone, especially not the cops. At least until I figure out a plan. Please?”

Sy was the first to nod his head. “Of course.”

Bear sighed heavily, a knowing look on his face as he folded his arms. “I don’t like this at all. But as long as you’re sure, fine.”

Dax was the last to break. But eventually, he shook his head. “Your call, Whittaker. I promise.”

A sudden loud series of knocks made all of us jump.

I got up to answer, eager to try and get out of the bubble of discovery. The guys followed me out at a small distance. I opened the door to meet a stranger I didn’t recognize. He looked very young and unsure of himself, dressed in a windbreaker.

“Are you Lane Whittaker?” he asked in a cracking voice.

“I am,” I answered, my gut already telling me where this was going.

“You’ve been served.” He handed me a thick manila envelope. “Have a good day.”

Then he scurried off, leaving me to enjoy myself because what else could a manila envelope be but “a good day” waiting to get even better. I tore it open, my heart beating against my ribs.

“What’s wrong?” Bear asked, coming up to stand beside me as I closed and locked the door.

I sounded deadpan, my brain not quite fully processing the words as I read them straight off the page.

“It’s a Temporary Restraining Order,” I said, my fingers tightening on the edge of the legal stock paper. “Sandy filed an ex parte petition with the Cook County Chancery Division. He’s claiming emergency structural endangerment to the shared elements of the HOA.”

“The fuck,” Dax muttered, his jaw twitching as he came over to look at the papers himself. “So the bastard gets to bypass a trial and just shut us down?”

“He definitely lied to a judge behind my back and said our bathroom gut job is going to collapse the entire building,” I replied. My legs felt unsteady beneath me and I leaned back against the wall to steady myself. “Until we get a hearing, this is a legally binding freeze. If any of you so much as turn on a drill tomorrow morning, we’re all in contempt of court.”

20

Lane

Bear’s face was stone. “Screw that. We’re not stopping.”

I slumped even further down the wall. I felt numb. I was trying my best to keep my emotions in check and try to find the logical loopholes in the current situation but it was hard when so many things felt like they were falling apart all at once.

“We don’t exactly have much of a choice,” I said. “I don’t think you understand just how much trouble we could all get in. And if you get dragged into a courtroom, Cornerstone is going to sink under the notoriety. I refuse to let that happen.”