Chapter 209 Spies
Trent's POV
My heart is pounding in my chest as I take in the familiar sight of Dad's office. I'm not generally allowed in here, unless he calls for me. But that's not why I'm nervous.
I'm nervous about what I'm going to find out about my own father, and I'm scared I'll never be able to respect him again.
But if he was involved in any way to Charlie and her family... I'll never forgive myself if I don't do everything to help her. She's more important to me than my father's pride.
"Okay, here's the plan, I'm going to check out my dad's computer, I need you to go through the filing cabinet and see if anything stands out to you," I whisper, keeping my voice low so no one hears anything.
Just because Dad was downstairs a moment ago, innocently watching the TV doesn't mean he isn't going to follow me up here and find out where we are. Then I'll be caught. I don't know if I'm ready to confront him with this yet.
And if he finds us in here, he will kick us out and I'm sure he'll be locking his office from then on. Then I'll be shit out of luck trying to get the evidence we need.
Charlie doesn't argue, she just nods her head and gets straight to work. Damn, I think I love her! I really want to reach out and kiss the hell outta her, but we are both on the clock and I need to be out of here before the dinner bell.
I get on my dad's computer. I swear he's got a million files on here. How the hell does he find anything in here? It's like they are all disorganized on purpose.
There is a file from when I was little, showing my grades and school pictures. Even awards I won and notes from the teacher. I had no idea he actually kept them!
There is another file full of pictures that I don't recognize. Places I don't know and people I have never seen before. What the hell is all this? It's like pictures from someone else's life! Does Dad have another family out there somewhere? Is that what this is?
I start searching deeper, and I come across the home records and my stomach drops. The house was paid in full about 10 years ago. Dad should never have been able to do that with his pay.
Actually, now that I think about it, I remember moving into this house. All my buddies were super excited we had a basement. We hooked up a few different gaming systems to the TV while Mom and Dad... unpacked I guess?
I remember it was a sudden move. Dad came to dinner one night and smiled at us.
"We'll be moving in a week!" He announced, like he didn't just spring this thing on us.
"Are we losing the house?!" Mom gasped.
I hadn't even thought of that! Had we been in debt and we had to move? But what about school? What about my friends?
"Nope! I'm getting a raise! We are moving to a bigger house, just down the road! You're gonna love it!" Dad promised. "And Trent, you can have all your friends over for a sleepover/game night!"
And that was the end of the discussion. I never asked, and I guess I didn't want to know. If I could have my friends over, I was cool with it.
I should've started digging into it back then. But how the hell was I supposed to know? I was like 9 years old!
I take a screen shot send a copy to my phone to look at later, then I delete the screenshot. I can't have it laying around like evidence of my snooping.
I also look up bank statements. And my suspicions are confirmed; his salary is nowhere near what it would take to sustain this house. There are, however, large amounts of cash coming from an outside source coming to him monthly, but I don't know how to trace them.