But it wasn’t Remi. Just another automated warning from the bank about freezing the clinic’s accounts.
I stared at it until my vision blurred, then tossed it on the couch.
“Five days,” I said quietly. “And still nothing.”
Jack didn’t answer. He didn’t have to. We were all thinking the same thing.
Outside, the woods whispered in the shifting wind, as if they knew something was coming.
Inside, we kept digging, stitching together every thread, every sealed record, every quiet cover-up Erin thought she’d buried.
Four people who’d already lost too much, slowly building the kind of truth that could burn her entire empire to the ground.
CHAPTER 63
HARLAN - DOVE CONTAINED
We don't get to quit just because the system failed. That’s when we fight harder.
I hadn’t slept in days. Not really. I’d moved from room to room in the cabin, restless, checking on everyone like it mattered, like I could keep them safe by proximity alone. Jack was passed out on the couch with a pile of files as a pillow. Ava was awake when I checked an hour ago, laptop light casting her in blue.
I knew she was unravelling; we all were.
Gray was up at the island typing away. I don't know when he managed to sleep, but he hadn’t stopped digging.
And Remi...
No call. No update. No check-in from Clutch either. That silence echoed louder than any warning call. I had tried to reach out to anyone I could without giving away her location or ours.
I kissed the top of Ava's hair and then stepped outside with my burner, dialled the Internal Affairs contact I trusted. I had files prepped, timelines written, names organized... We were done playing nice.
“Agent Russell,” a voice answered.
“Harlan Gray. I have a volatile data package I need to send you, flagged under the Redemption Tipline.”
A beat. “...You’re the Chief who walked out?”
“They asked me to... but it was time to get this sorted.”
“Where are you?”
“Somewhere safe. And not staying put for long.”
“I need to verify...”
“You’ll find sealed case records accessed from an unauthorizedaccount, files routed to a federal clerk’s inbox tied to Judge Everett Morris, and manipulation of internal charges dating back over a decade. It's all in the package. You verify it, you’ll want more... but maybe you guys can do some of the legwork this time.”
Silence, then: “We’ll be in touch.”
I ended the call and immediately sent the same package to Kane’s encrypted server. Then again, through a blind drop Ava helped set up. IA. FBI. Press.
Redundancy was survival now.
Inside, I rejoined Gray at the kitchen table. He looked up with the kind of eyes that meantno good news.
“Still nothing?” I asked.
“Burner’s on, but no movement on GPS. Either they ditched the phone, or she left it behind.”
