Vee used to fall asleep on my shoulder while I read. She'd bring me tea without asking if I wanted it. She'd sit in the chair by my window on bad nights and just be there, not talking, notneeding anything, just present. And I let that girl fade into the walls of a house that should have been her home.
I don't get to hold her again. I know that. She's going to end up with Alex's pack and they're going to take care of her the way we should have and I'm going to watch from the outside. That's the right outcome. She deserves them.
But knowing it's right doesn't make it hurt less.
"Eli." Jasper's voice pulls me back. "You're compartmentalizing again."
"I'm fine."
"You're not fine. You have the face you get when you're putting something in a box so you don't have to feel it."
"That's literally what compartmentalizing is."
"I know. I'm telling you I see it."
I almost smile. "You care too much. It shows in your face. I can compartmentalize. That's the difference."
He looks at me for a long moment. "That's not a compliment."
"No," I agree. "It's not."
***
Then Friday happens.
I come home from a twelve-hour shift and the house is empty. Jasper's car is in the driveway but Ragon's isn't.
I find Jasper in the kitchen with his phone pressed to his ear, his face drained of color.
"What?" I ask.
He holds up a hand. Listens. Then: "Okay. Yeah. I understand." He hangs up.
"Ragon went to see Arden," he says.
My stomach goes cold.
"At the OPA office. He walked in without an appointment and demanded to know where Vee is. Told Arden he knew Ardenhad been treating Vee and that she wouldn't have disappeared without professional help. Said Arden had a duty to tell him where his omega was."
"What did Arden do?"
"What Arden always does. Stood his ground. Told Ragon he couldn't discuss his clients and that Ragon's custody didn't entitle him to information about Vee's whereabouts. Apparently Ragon's scent was spiking so hard the receptionist almost called security."
"But Arden handled it."
"Arden handled it." Jasper's face is tight. "But Ragon didn't leave. He went to his car and sat in the parking lot. He's been there for two hours."
The implication hits me immediately.
"He's going to follow Arden home."
"That's what Chase thinks. And if Ragon follows Arden home, he finds out where Arden lives. If he finds out where Arden lives, he could find out Chase is connected. One conversation with a neighbor, one look at the cars in the driveway, one glimpse of Chase coming or going—"
"The whole thing unravels."
"The whole thing unravels. They’ll have to move Vee again."
I close my eyes.
