Secrets Collide (Bluegrass Brothers)

the cheat sheet. Once I didn’t need it, Gia told me to destroy it so our parents couldn’t find it.”
    “But you didn’t, did you?” Miss Lily asked with a grin.
    “No, I didn’t,” Gemma grinned back as she leapt off the bed. She grabbed the bag that Cy had packed with all the pictures from her apartment. “I put it behind a picture of Gia and me.”
    “Here, let me help you. Which one?”
    “I don’t know. I'm horrible about stacking pictures in frames. Instead of taking a picture out of the frame when I put a new one in, I just move it behind the new picture. It could be somewhere in any of these. The frame would have to be old, though, so probably a smaller one. Kids don’t enlarge photographs.” Gemma started prying off the backs of the frames as Miss Lily handed her all the smaller frames.
    One after another, Gemma pulled off the backs and sorted through the years of pictures. But there was nothing. “There are three more, dear. Don’t lose hope,” Miss Lily said reassuringly.
    Gemma didn’t feel too reassured, though. In fact, she was worried she had thrown out the frame a long time ago. She popped off the back of the silver frame in her hands and pulled out the thick stack of photos underneath. It must be an old frame to have that many photos in it. She turned them over—a picture of her and Gia at the Journalists Award Banquet where Gia won two honors that night was on top. Underneath was a picture of them in their dorm room in their senior year of college, followed by a picture of Gemma and one of her friends at a frat party in their freshman year. Gemma looked further back and found a picture of the two sisters and their friends in high school. Underneath that was an old scrap of white lined paper folded into a rectangle.
    With shaking hands, Gemma dropped the remaining pictures and stared at the wrinkled piece of paper. “Well, go on,” Miss Lily gently urged.
    Gemma opened the paper and stared down at the list written in her sister’s handwriting. She had found the key, all thanks to Miss Lily. Without saying a word, Gemma threw her arms around the older lady and hugged her.
    “Oh,” Miss Lily exclaimed before returning the hug. “There, there. You have a lot of work to get done. Call if you need anything.” Miss Lily gave her a smile and headed back downstairs, promising to return with more snacks as the day went on.
    Gemma picked up the first notebook again and, with renewed determination, went to work translating. It was time to discover what her sister had left for her to find.
     
    *     *     *
     
    Cy tossed the cards on the table and scooped in the pot. He enjoyed wiping that smug smile off Marshall’s face. His phone vibrated again and Pierce grabbed it before he could.
    “Really? A socialite? So boring compared to the America’s Sweetheart who called you an hour ago,” Pierce complained as he tossed the phone back to the table, ignoring the dark look Cy tossed him.
    “Sorry to be late,” Ahmed said as he walked into Mo’s study and took a seat next to Mo. “What did I miss?”
    “Besides the who’s who of Hollywood calling my brother wanting to know where he is and offering to send planes to Kentucky to rescue him from the boredom of retirement?” Cade sniped.
    Ahmed simply raised an eyebrow at Cade and then looked at Cy.
    “I’ve gotten through about half of the unknown pictures and have been able to identify them. They’re mostly arms dealers, some higher-level foreign politicians, and known operators on the black market,” Cy snapped as he dealt the next hand. He tried to take a deep breath, but it felt as if his undercover life was smothering him. He was lost in the lies of his job.
    His phone vibrated again and Cy bit back a curse as Pierce grabbed it again. “Oh, this one I bet he takes,” Pierce teased as Cy yanked the phone out of his brother’s hand.
    “Gemma? Is everything okay?”
    “I’m sorry to interrupt poker night, but I found something,” Gemma squealed. She sounded so excited and proud that Cy couldn’t help but smile. The tension coiling around his heart eased slightly. Immediately his brothers snickered.
    “No problem at all. I’ll be right there.” Cy hung up and glared at his brothers and his friends. “Really? You’re a prince and you’re laughing at me?”
    “I am sorry, but it’s so obvious you’re completely out of your element,” Mo said while sounding not at all apologetic.
    “Did you hear his