My eyes drift from Adrian’s photo to the apartment above, to Eli: the reason this place has become a war room.
Finn pushes the burger toward me. “Eat your burger, old man.”
I shoot him a look, but he doesn’t even blink.
“Enough with the old man bullshit, little one,” I mutter, finally biting into the burger.
* * *
Finn leaves not long after, and a few minutes later, CJ appears in the office. I look past him, half expecting Eli.
“Finn’s with him,” CJ says.
CJ nods and comes over, stopping beside me. We stand shoulder to shoulder, staring at the chaos on the walls, talking about him, about Eli. The silence between us sits heavy. We’ve stood like this before in worse places, but this feels personal.
I know my brother is terrified of losing him, and I’ll do everything in my power to make sure that doesn’t happen.
I bring him up to speed on what we’ve uncovered, and we’re discussing next steps when my phone rings.
The news that comes through makes my blood go cold.
“Tell me,” CJ says.
I look back at the screen. “We’ve got another vehicle registration. Same car spotted entering Campbell River four months ago.”
CJ goes completely still beside me. He doesn’t move, just stares at Adrian’s photo.
“CJ,” I say quietly. “Adrian took years from Eli. We can’t give those back.” My gaze shifts to the man who has become Eli’s safe place. “But we can make damn sure he never takes another one.”
CJ turns to me and nods once. “Tell me everything.”
So I do.
And then we start.
The hunt is on.
26
CJ
Eli and I were upstairs at PalMerc in the bunk-room, and I knew something was wrong before Eli even spoke.
It was the way he went completely still. The way the color drained from his face as he stared at his phone like whatever waited on that screen had dragged him straight back to the place he’d fought so hard to escape.
His hands started shaking, and like always, he tried to hide it. Tried to convince me he was okay.
But I knew him.
I knew every fake smile, every forced laugh. Every “I’m fine” that meant he was falling apart.
“Baby Boy?” I whispered, stepping closer.
I watched the fear Adrian had planted inside him take over, crushing him again, making him feel trapped, making him believe there was nowhere safe.
I wanted to destroy Adrian.
I wanted to promise Eli I could fix it, that I could make it stop, but uncertainty clawed at me. I was supposed to be the one who protected him, and right now I felt useless.
