Dad and Arden handle everything from there on. They send Maddox and me back to Silverlake immediately. No amount of arguing can convince my father to let me do something, not when he is likethis.
An hour later, however, they are all back. Aurelia is in a horrible mood, while Dad is equally as upset.
However, my first priority is still Gwen. I try to put her mind at ease by showing her that I am not harmed. I even go to the infirmary with her to show her the proof of it. Then I repeat the same thing again with Dario, who is equally as worried.
I hate putting so much worry on them. I love Gwen, and never want her to feel terrified again. She lost her father, Tulip, and then Marina. I want her to feel like she is going to be safe and that I will never endanger my life recklessly.
As for Dario, I have been worrying about him a lot recently. I will need to set a date for us all to hang out soon, to just relax and do something fun.
First, however, we need to deal with the threat at hand. Dad and Aurelia have summoned Gwen and me to a meeting, which we join together with Liam and Arden.
Dad paces around in front of me fast, his shoulders tense and his eyebrows furrowed. He looks grim. Meanwhile, Liam and Arden go through everything Maddox and I managed to retrieve.
“It sucks that I couldn’t catch any of them,” Aurelia groans. “Though technically this isn’t true. I did catch one of them.” She glares at Tiger, who has settled down on Gwen’s shoulder by now.
When Aurelia returned to us from her chase, she was furious, telling us that she managed to capture one of the men, but Tigerswallowedhim whole.
“You can’t do that,” she says now, looking at Tiger with insistence. “Eating a wolf should be the last resort!” Her fingers brush through Titan’s fur. “I will leave it to you, Titan, to set the rules. And I guess we’ll need Mom’s help.”
Titan tilts his head like he understood the assignment. Well, he probablydidunderstand it.
“You did what you could,” Dad tells her. “I am just glad you came in time to stop anything worse from happening to Felix.”
“I am fine,” I reassure him.
“You did a tremendous job,” he says. “Maddox told me the same.”
“I just wish I could have used my gift when we were attacked, but I was too nervous.”
“You managed to use it on Maddox’s father,” Dad says. “It shows that you know how to handle it, so you can train it now.”
Liam hands the remainder of the pictures to Arden. Arden likes working with prints, so they printed all the images I took.“Felix, tell me once more what happened today,” Liam says. “I will talk to Maddox later once he is patched up thoroughly.” He pauses. “Good job for bringing him along, by the way.”
I smile. “Couldn’t leave him there. And frankly, we might need his help.”
“Yes, having an insider here is definitely good,” Aurelia agrees.
“So?” Liam eyes me.
I nod, recounting the events to him in detail. Fortunately, Kiran backs me up when I miss a detail. In moments like this, my hyperfocus really comes as an advantage because when I can focus, I have an amazing memory.
“Thomas, you said?” Arden mutters.
“Yes, one of the guys said something along those lines, ‘Thomas gave clear instructions‘.”
Arden hands one of the prints to Liam, pointing at one line. “Could this be something?”
Liam frowns. “Good catch. It certainly could be.”
Dad turns his full attention towards them. “What did you find?”
“There are certain parts in the notebook that involve Marina,” Liam explains. “Maddox told Felix that his father gambles, and he assumes that he bargained Marina for it.”
“He is definitely receiving bribe money on top of that,” Arden adds. “The numbers don’t make sense otherwise. He receives a hefty sum monthly.”
“At one point, there is a certain TJ mentioned,” Liam explains. “Now, TJ could mean anything, but to me it sounds like a name.”
“To me, too,” Arden agrees. “The way TJ is referenced, it has to be a person. If it’s a name, could it be the Thomas that was mentioned in front of Felix?”
