Ryan doesn't say anything in the car ride over. He also doesn't go over the speed limit, so I know he's trying to stall whatever conversation he has to have with us for as long as possible. Austin and Gus gab in the backseat but my brain blocks out their conversation as if my head has been pushed underwater. I am trying to guess what this "lie" is about but I have no idea. It can't have anything to do with Ryan, or Gus wouldn't be helping him out. It can't have to do with Ryan or Austin's job because I have seen both Austin in their F.B.I getups and have met them in their offices. It can't have to do with Jackson because neither Ryan nor I would care if anything came out about the Hemmings.
I try to think of my family, but I don't know how anything about them could be a "lie". We're the Sweeneys. We have ancestors in photos displayed at the Wellington House. My mother was born and raised as a Liddell in Hollis with strong southern roots and was matched with my father by their parents. It wasn't a love at first sight story, but my father needed a wife from high society and my mother was raised by Matilda Liddell to be the perfect lady. My father is an only child, and now Austin is left to carry on the name, so we don't have family drama. The Sweeneys have always been a well-off, well-connected family. Nothing about that could be a sham.
When we pull past Austin's gate, my stomach drops. Whatever is about to happen is going to be bad. I can feel it. I can feel the fear oozing off Ryan. After he parks the car it becomes silent. Like we all just remembered why we left the party to come home.
Ryan kicks his door open first and we all follow his lead. Austin leads us into the kitchen and flips all the lights on as he walks past. The house is suddenly flooded with light and we slowly huddle together around his island. From living here, Ryan knows where everything is so he immediately opens the alcohol cabinet and pulls down a bottle of wine and a bottle of Jack Daniels. Gus quickly grabs the Jack from him and Ryan spins around to grab glass tumblers.
"This conversation requires alcohol?" I ask and Ryan slides a glass over to me. I catch it as I wait for him to answer.
"Yeah I need to liquor you up a bit," he tells me, and Austin and I glance at each other, "Wine or whiskey?"
I shrug, "I dunno, how bad is this about to be?" He stares at me as Gus starts dropping ice into his glass. He slides the wine bottle away from him and I guess it's bad enough that he thinks I need something strong. Gus drops ice into all of our glasses and Ryan generously fills us up. He stays standing on the opposite side of me and Austin, while Gus places himself at the end of the island, creating a rectangle. He's not with Ryan but he's not with us either, just here in the middle, however we need him.
Ryan downs his whiskey while I keep mine in my hands. After he drops it on the island he says, "I'm going to start this off by saying, I'm out of the P.I business. After this, I realized this is not what I had in mind and I hope this is the last time I have to deliver this kind of news."
"This is something you investigated?" Austin asks but Ryan quickly shakes his head no, "No, I had absolutely nothing to do with this. It was Whitney's P.I who brought this to her attention and she showed me everything on Sunday. I then found out Annabeth knows about this as well yesterday and I don't trust her one bit to keep this quiet."
"So whatever you are about to tell us you've known about for days?" I ask, surprised he hasn't told us sooner.
"I found this out, found out you were taken by Kit, found you, we lost our child, Kit disappeared and Gus had me investigate A.B. There really hasn't been a good moment to drop another bomb on you baby girl," Ryan says, trying to bite back a hint of anger. Austin glances to me, "He's telling us now Sawyer." I put my hands up, not trying to sound accusatory and decide to take a sip of my whiskey after all. Whatever this is has Ryan tightly wound. He sighs and glances at Gus, "I don't really know where to start with this."
"Start from the beginning. With the Carmichael stuff," Gus tells him and Ryan nods. He drops his hands on the granite countertop before saying, "Okay, well we all know why Austin and I came to Hollis in the first place. We had been put on surveillance and apparently there was a mole in local law enforcement that let Kenny know we were on to him. Kenny had his P.I start looking into Austin and me to try and find our weak spots, which we all know landed on Sawyer. But his P.I came up with dirt on everyone, which Whitney found." I look to Austin and wonder what in the hell she could have found. He has the same nervous expression and now I wonder if it's about Austin. Ryan glances to Gus again and continues, "When I met with Whitney, she made sure Garrett's name was never going to be exposed because she didn't want her money to stop rolling in. She took her uncle's power play by using blackmail."
"The photos she took of you and her," I tell him but he shakes his head, "Oh no, she had blackmail ready to show me. To make sure I knew to keep my mouth shut and to make sure you kept yours shut." My heart drops and I wonder if Ryan is about to tell me something horrific about him. That Kenny found out something awful.
"But A.B apparently knows?" I question, wondering how the hell this blackmail made its way to Annabeth. Gus pipes in and Ryan almost looks relieved to have the spotlight off him for a minute.
"Apparently, Whitney reached out to Annabeth after she found out she was pregnant. A.B left it alone until you came back from New York," Gus says with an eye roll. "Ryan and I saw that A.B was mad that you blew off her pregnancy and blahdeblah." A laugh escapes me as I hear how absurd that sounds and by Gus's face, he agrees with me. He continues, "So anyway, Whitney and A.B met up for a baby play date and they used it as a bash Sawyer session. My guess is, all Annabeth and Whitney have in common is their mutual jealousy of you."
"What? Jealousy?" I ask with a scoff wondering what they have to be jealous over.
"They were real catty in their messages. My guess is jealousy because what they say makes no sense," Gus says and glances to Ryan who nods. "Anywho, Whitney finally let the cat out of the bag when she revealed that Ryan had found out about Garrett."
"And the cat is whatever Ryan is about to tell us?" Austin asks and we all look back to Ryan, who is pouring himself another shot. He scratches his head and then says, "The Carmichael's P.I did a deep dive into everyone in the Sweeney family." Austin and I look to each other again while Ryan takes a drink. He sets his glass down and says, "At first I didn't believe it and you won't either. It's so....outlandish that it seems made up but..."
"Just tell us, Ryan," Austin says calmly and we all stare at Ryan who quickly glances to Gus. Gus looks away from him and it's up to Ryan to drop the bomb.
"Kenny discovered that...the P.I investigated heavily into your father...." Ryan says, still stalling. My heart is racing and he needs to just pull the pin and throw the grenade. "He does work as a financial consultant based in Dallas, where we all know he spends a lot of his time. I mean, in the year I've been around I have seen your dad, I dunno, twice?"
"We know he travels around, this isn't news," I tell Ryan, pleading with him to spit it out.
"Okay, well he doesn't travel as often as you think," Gus says mysteriously and Ryan glares to him. He looks away from Ryan's stare and Ryan looks back to us, "He is stationed primarily in Dallas because..."
"Because..." Austin says, trying to drag it out of him too.
"Because....that's where his other family is." Ryan finally says and no one moves. There is no other sound in the kitchen but our breathing. I look to Austin who is just as confused as I am and we both clearly don't know where to start. I shake my head and Ryan braces himself for follow-up.
"Other family?" Austin asks, like he's never heard those words strung together before.
"Your father has another wife and son in Dallas. Well, not wife, they aren't legally married but the son is about to be eighteen so, this affair has been going on for at least that long."
"Eighteen? My father has another son who is eighteen?" I gasp. This isn't real. I shake my head, "Whitney is just trying to scare us into keeping her secret. There is no way this is possible."
"I said the same thing," Ryan mutters and Austin is still motionless on the barstool.
"I don't believe it. It is not possible. My father didn't even start the consulting job until I was in high school," I say as I throw my hands up. I can't believe Whitney would try and stoop so low. This is absurd. Completely asinine. I look to Austin, "This cannot be true." He finally looks to me but I can tell he doesn't actually think this is as absurd as I do. He almost looks defeated.
"When I called him, to tell him Tilly died he wasn't answering. It was late so I thought he might be sleeping so I kept calling and calling when suddenly a younger voice answered. When dad got on the line, he said that he was an intern. That he was having a work fire and was still at the office. I thought it was weird, but there was so much going on that I never thought about it again until now. What if that was...." Austin looks to me, terrified that he may have spoken with our father's other son. Our what...half brother?
"The Carmichaels had evidence. They sent their P.I to Dallas and he dug up mounds of stuff," Ryan tells us. Suddenly, the worst question of all finds me. I get hot and feel sick as I look to Austin, "Do you think mother knows?"