The words still hung in the tavern like smoke.
Thunder rolled again outside.
Closer now.
The storm pressing against Eagle River felt almost alive.
Nobody moved for a long second.
Then Trigger finally broke the silence.
“Oh, I’m gonna need names.”
Vaughn laughed weakly through blood.
“You think I know all the players?”
“Careful,” Wolf said calmly. “You’re running low on teeth.”
Honestly?
That one almost made me laugh.
Almost.
But my stomach twisted too hard for humor tonight.
Because suddenly memories kept surfacing.
Little things.
Tiny things I’d ignored after my father died.
My chest tightened.
Oh God.
“Hersh.”
The second I spoke, his attention snapped back to me immediately.
His attention snapped to me instantly.
Like it always did.
“What?”
I swallowed hard.
“My father…”
Concern crossed his face instantly.
“What about him?”
I looked down at my shaking hands.
“He started acting strange before he died.”
