Page 156 of Reckless

Somewhere along the way, I’ve learned most of them, and I couldn’t tell when that happened.

We are still working through the rest of it, mapping how far Travis’ information can be trusted and where it needs independent confirmation, when her phone buzzes against the desk. She glances at it without much interest, ignoring it.

Then my own phone lights up with a text from Piper.

Piper: Car behind me. Been there for three blocks. Clearly following me.

There’s an attached image, and I am up out of the chair before I finish reading the second line.

Sage’s head snaps toward me. “What?”

“Piper’s being followed.”

Sage is already on her feet. “What? How is she even out on her own?”

I tilt my head. “That is something I’d like to know too. But right now, this is what we need to worry about.” I rotate the phone toward her—Piper’s text, the photograph, and the sedan half a block behind her.

The color drains from Sage’s face. “Oh my God, Ghost… oh my God!”

“She’s still moving. She had the right idea sending me the plates. She’s in public, so they won’t move on her if she stays walking on the main street.”

I pull out my cell and type off a club-wide text.

Me: ALERT! Piper in trouble, I’m assessing the situation, be on standby.

My laptop is already awake by the time I reach it. The registration software opens before the chair has stopped rolling backward. I drag Piper’s photograph into the recognition software, cropping the plate before the image finishes loading. Six characters resolve into sharp focus. The search runs automatically, pulling from state registration first, then commercial ownership records.

A result populates almost immediately.

Registered to an LLC.

I click through.

Another shell. Another holding company. Another layer designed to make whoever owns the vehicle disappear into paperwork.

My jaw tightens, but I keep digging.

The ownership tree opens one document at a time until the same registered office appears—the same nominee director, the same accounting firm.

My stomach sinks before the final document loads.

Waterton Security Holdings.

I was hoping I was wrong.

“Ghost?”

I don’t answer immediately, then grab my cut from the back of the chair. “It’s them.”

Sin, Koa, and Nitro walk into the clubhouse and spot me, but I shake my head at them, and they stand down as Sage’s breath catches. “No…” She snatches up her phone, already typing. “I’m calling Piper.”

“Do it.”

It rings once, twice, then straight to voicemail.

Sage swears under her breath. “Come on… come on…” She tries again.

Nothing.