Parker studied me, then leaned in, voice barely above a whisper. “You want us to dig?”
“Everything. Her, her family, the club, Steiner. Leave no stone.”
She cracked her knuckles, grinned, and pulled out her tablet from a messenger bag. “I’ll start digging right away.”
“Do it.”
The silence that followed was heavy but not awkward. Wrecker clapped a hand on my shoulder, then stood. “We’ll figure it out, Jess. And if anyone’s got her locked down, they won’t live long.”
He meant it. I trusted him more than anyone.
Parker was already typing, the blue light flickering in her eyes. “She’s lucky,” she said, almost to herself. “Not many guys would come after someone who left them.”
I looked at her, then past her, to the flag on the wall.
“She never really left,” I said, my voice a low growl. “Not from here.”
Wrecker gave a rare smile. “That’s the Arsenal I know. And brother, you can’t keep this from the Alpha. He deserves to know.”
I knew he was right. I couldn’t have Wrecker and Parker go behind Bronc’s back.
“I’ll go to him. I won’t have y’all involved in some kind of deceit.”
They both nodded as they walked out. I knew they’d have the answers I needed soon. It was time to act. I’d spent my life being two things: a soldier, and a protector.
And I was done losing people.
I headed to Wrecker’s house. Their tech room looked like something you’d see at the Pentagon. Wrecker broke down Harper’s last knowns with the focus of a bomb tech; Parker set up two laptops and a burner phone, hands flying. I stood behind them, arms folded, willing myself not to pace. Years of discipline kept me in place, but my wolf was pacing circles under the skin.
“She was supposed to be at Julliard,” I said, more to myself than anyone, “not dancing in a strip club for some sociopath’s pleasure.”
Wrecker grunted. “People change.”
“She didn’t,” I shot back. “Not like that. Not unless someone made her.” My voice was sharper than intended, but neither of them flinched.
Wrecker’s fingers flicked through printouts from Parker’s bag. “What’s your take, then?”
I exhaled through my nose. “She was a prodigy. Ballet was everything. Her old man controlled everything else—her money, her future, her fucking phone. If she left, it wasn’t because she wanted to.” I felt my jaw click. “Someone boxed her in.”
“Could be Steiner,” Parker offered, not looking up from her screen. “He’s got a way of taking what he wants.”
I clenched my fist, knuckles bone-white. “Or maybe he just enjoys breaking people.”
The silence was tight, but not uncomfortable. More like the loaded space before a breach.
Wrecker shuffled a file my way. “You ever try to contact her after she ghosted?”
“Once after I figured she’d graduated,” I said. “Called her home line. Her father picked up. Told me she’d moved to Europe, had a new life, didn’t want contact with anyone from Texas. Said if I tried again, he’d have my record splashed across the internet.”
Wrecker rolled his eyes. “What record?”
“Exactly,” I said. “He was bluffing. But I couldn’t afford to push it. Not with her just starting out.”
I hesitated, then nodded. “Never mailed it. Didn’t want to look desperate.”
Parker started printing out data. “If I were to guess, here’s where things really went south. About the time she’d been at Julliard for two years, her old man was accused in a Ponzi scheme. He was arrested. Look at the dates.”
She handed me a stack of arrest affidavits and other paperwork. Sure enough, he’d been indicted on several charges.
