Chapter 122

**Artemis**


I hadn’t heard from my grandfather in several weeks and I’m wondering when he will send Iris to us. I’m willing to fly to wherever they are and pick her up myself but any attempts at contacting my grandfather have gone unanswered. That is until Rhea comes stumbling into the house looking as if she’s seen a ghost.

“Artemis…” It sounds like saying that much was too much effort.

“What?”

“Rhea? What’s wrong?” Blue rushes over to my sister and helps her to sit down on the closest chair. “Rhea, what’s going on?”

“Just look.” My sister hands her phone to Blue, but I can hear the audio.

*'Another tragedy involving the famous Rhodes family. Unfortunately, this accident resulted in the death of three members including the Patriarch of the family, his son and his daughter-in-law. The following information may be upsetting for some. The police and rescue crew discovered the pilot a mile away and the members of the family different distances from the crash. Our condolences go to the Rhodes family during this difficult time, and we will keep you all informed of any progress regarding this case. Now for sports…’*

Blue covers her mouth in shock and looks up at me, no doubt trying to see how I would react to this.

“Where is Iris?” I ask instead.

“They don’t mention a young girl and they said there were only three passengers. I don’t know! Oh god, where is our sister?” Rhea wails.

Blue wraps her arms around her and let’s Rhea cry into her chest.

“I need to make a call.” I stand and walk to my office.

I know I should be more upset by this. Even after all we’ve been through, they were still technically my family, and yet I feel…nothing. My parents were hardly there for us and when they were it was to remind us that everything, we did reflected on them and the family. Our grandfather wasn’t much better. No, the only person whose death ever hit me was my grandmothers because she was the only real adult in my life that cared. She was the mother we didn’t have and after she was gone it was as if a light died in this world.

Still, I will be expected to publicly morn my family and plan for their memorials, but first I need to find out where Iris is. If I knew my grandfather, he wouldn’t want her coming in the same plane as our parents. He made it sound as if he planned on keeping them hidden from the public eye while he fixed things, but Iris was still going to be a public figure. He would want her to arrive separately and with full media coverage. Our family has several private jets, so he must have had her fly on another.

Their plane crashed a few states over, and it seemed like the crash happened several hours ago. Iris should have landed by now or is to land soon. My father and Grandfather shared a server for all business matters, so my grandfather knew every move my father made. If he used one of the family jets, then the information would be among his things. I set up the initial security software, and if whoever has been maintaining it is less talented than me, they would have simply built on top of it. Any updates made to the system would hold some of the original code.

All I need to do is hack in and pull the information. I could do it in my sleep, but that won’t be necessary. My computer is on and I’m already through the first layer of code. I fall into my hacker side and move quickly through each layer of security. Whoever they hired only patched specific sections but didn’t do much updating overall which makes this far too easy. It also means our company server could have been easily hacked at any time. Yet another reason my father was an idiot of the highest order. He didn’t bother hiring a competent cyber security man.

Push aside my anger since it does no good now that he’s dead, I break the last layer of security and I’m granted access to everything. The whole system is a mess, but I recognize my grandfather’s organization style and stick to that area. As I thought he scheduled Iris a separate flight to leave early in the morning, so she should have arrived by now. He wouldn’t have let her fly on her own since she’s only twelve, so he must have sent his assistant with her.

Next, I look for his contact information and call him. It rings several times, but he finally answers.

“Mr. Rhodes, I am so glad you called.” He says with relief in his voice.

“Is my sister safe?” I ask immediately.

“Yes sir. I meant to call sooner but we saw what happened on the news in the terminal and Iris was very upset. I had to calm her down before I could call you.” He’s talking frantically but I’m not listening to his explanation.

“Where are you now?”

“We are still at the airport-“

“Stay there. I’m coming there to collect my sister.” I hang up and grab the keys from my desk drawer.

Blue is coming down the hall, no doubt looking for me, and stops in front of me.

“Artemis-“

I shake my head. “Not now. Iris is at the airport with my grandfather’s assistant. I need to go get her.”

She nods and steps aside to let me pass. I know she would come with me if I asked but we have the babies and Lilly home right now, so she can’t leave them alone. Rhea is too upset to help, so it will be up to Blue to handle things for now. As soon as Iris is here with us, we can tackle everything else. It would be so easy for me to clam up and push everyone away right now, but I won’t. I can’t do that to Blue and even if I did, I know she would understand, which is the reason I won’t do it. So, I turn back around and head her way again.

I wrap my arms around her, and she doesn’t hesitate to do the same.

“I’m sorry you have to deal with this right now, but you’re not alone.” She says and I know every word is the truth.

She pulls away from me and gives me one of her sweet smiles. “Go be your sister’s hero. We’ll be here when you get back and I’ll make sure her room is ready.”

I lean down and kiss her but break it before I get lost in her. She has a way of being very distracting, and heaven knows I’m going to need that later but right now I need to be focused.

“I love you.” I whisper against her lips.

She steals one more kiss before saying those same words back to me. “Now go.”

I move back from her, and she gives me a wink. It’s all I need to know where we stand. She and I are a team, and she has never once let my grumpy asshole mood hurt her or us. If anything, she calls me out and tells me to stop being a grumpy asshole.

With that firmly settled I jog down the path to where my car is parked. Bryant is under the hood when I get there but looks up when he hears me. “Can I help with anything Mr. Rhodes?” He asks.

“You know Blue wants you to call me Artemis.” I remind him with a raised brow.

He cringes. “I forgot. You won’t tell her, will you?”

“She probably already knows.” I say with a sigh.

“Shoot. I guess I deserve any punishment she dishes out.” He deflates no doubt accepting his fate.

“I don’t envy you there. Is the car ready to go? I need to get to the airport to pick up Iris.” I tell him pulling the driver’s door open and climbing in.

“It’s good to go. Do you need me to come as well?” He asks.

I look him over. He’s in his normal clothes for when he’s guarding us except that his sleeves are rolled up. He wore gloves so his hands were kept clean, smart man.

“Yes. I could use a little extra security.” He nods and closes the hood of the car.

He quickly pulls his gloves off and sets them down on a raised flowerpot before grabbing his jacket and climbing into the passenger seat. Usually, he would be driving but I’m too amped up to ride in the back. I don’t wait for him to be buckled in before I’m reversing out of our driveway and flooring it down the street. I doubt I’ll be able to get to the airport without the possibility of getting pulled over, but I’ll let them chase me for however long it takes for me to get there.

I’ll pay a thousand speeding tickets if I have to, but I’m getting my sister.