Page 9 of Pieces of You

Lucian cleared his throat. “In which case, I think we should ban the topic altogether in the other groups. Leave that to the admins as well. Delete comments and refer them to the temporary group.”

It was settled. Penelope would talk to August, we’d prepare new rules for the group admins, and I would post on the front page.

“With that out of the way, what’re we gonna do out here?” Pen asked. “Are we turning the club into a newsroom indefinitely? What’s our plan?”

We all sort of looked to Greer, because he was closest to the biggest source of information. He was likely the one River and Reese would reach out to in a situation like this. In addition, his nephew was involved in the rescue operation.

Greer sighed and scratched his jaw. “My hope is I’ll know more after the press conference. Right now, I…” He shook his head and folded his arms over his chest. “It’s hard to say. We know the first forty-eight hours are crucial. We also know the authorities are close to useless when they go up against drug cartels.”

“Is that confirmed?” I asked. “Shay was kidnapped by a cartel?”

“Nothin’ is confirmed,” he replied grimly. “But considering a bunch of cartel members are turning up dead in California, it feels likely.”

This was almost too big for me to comprehend.

“Plus, given the weapons they found at the ranch,” Colt said. “So unless it’s a domestic militia of some sort, we’re looking at cartels from south of the border.”

Greer nodded with a dip of his chin.

Penelope dropped her gaze and covered her mouth with her hand.

“How is it not international news yet?” I wondered. “I want Shay’s face on every TV screen so no one can move him without someone recognizing him.”

Greer blew out a breath and weighed his response. “We average what, some two hundred actual kidnappings a year in the US? Not counting custody disputes where one parent snatches up the kids and runs for a bit. If they all made national news—much less international—we’d never see anything else.”

Lucian nodded. “I’m sure this will remain local for a while. We might get some action on our local news because of where Shay’s from, but I remember back when I traveled for work. If a story is cartel-related, it’s almost like a filter—it stays in California. Or Texas or whatever border state with cartel problems.”

Well, that didn’t fucking help us. It was already difficult navigating the news stories coming out about this case, because it felt like more than one investigation happening at the same time. The explosion at the ranch, as well as all the murders that were possibly linked to the explosion.

“We should head in,” Greer said. “The press conference is about to start.”

The mere mention felt like a punch in the gut. We knew what had happened; now we were about to get ironclad confirmation, photos included. We were going to see Shay’s handsome face on TV as a victim of kidnapping.

“I’ll get things sorted with the big TV after,” Colt said. “Pen, you’re from LA—feel free to share good sources to get local news both from LA and San Diego. It took me a minute to find the live stream for the press conference.”

“I’ll compile a list with links,” Penelope confirmed.

Everyone walked off to get back inside, and I took a couple steadying breaths.

Colt glanced back at me.

Fuck.

I had to… I had to, somehow, not feel as much. I had to avoid poking at certain emotions. No processing yet. I’d had my initial shock when Greer had called us before we’d left home, but I wasn’t sure that shock had worn off yet.

Maybe that was for the best.

Colt extended a hand. “Come on, darlin’. I’mma keep an eye on you.”

Greer Finlay

How could this have happened, Owner?

He’s gonna be okay, right?

I can’t believe this is happening.

Dominus, the Tenleys will save him, won’t they?