For a gang known for hunting people down, they didn’t see me. I had already outsmarted them again and again.
I took a deep breath, taking in the scent of the nearby river and the lingering smell of burning rubber. The one rider having done a burnout before parking his bike.
Disgusting.
I hated these bikes. I hated the riders, too. But my feelings didn’t matter. I had to keep following them and find any information I could before my boss became upset. I knew it would be my blood on the floor if I failed.
I watched as the girl laughed, oblivious, her voice carrying through the cool night air. She didn’t know it yet, but she was mine.
Ours.
Not tonight.
Not tomorrow.
But soon.
Chapter 7
Evie
Ireclined in my office chair, forcing myself not to look up at Aiden. It was another late night at the garage, and once again, he was stuck watching over me.
While I was usually annoyed, I welcomed the company a bit more than normal tonight. It wasn’t that anything was wrong, but my imagination seemed to be running wild—shadows shifting, people hiding in the dark or just around the corner.
At least with Aiden here, I didn’t feel as nervous.
His gaze burned into my skin, a familiar weight I could never ignore. Every time he looked at me, it was the same—an electric awareness that made concentrating impossible. I didn’t need to glance up to know his blue eyes were on me, likely irritated, yet as intense as ever.
Instead of giving him any attention, I clicked further into the string of documents on my screen. This was probably another set of dead-end files, like the others I’d spent countless hours on before. I wasn’t sure this trail would lead anywhere, but I’d still follow it to the end. I’d spent too many years chasing down clues about my parents, only to hit walls every time. But with each new lead, I couldn’t help but hope. We learned more about their downfall after Cameron was killed and we had full accessto his computer, but it hadn’t told us anything about why my parents worked with him.
I’d spent too many late nights hidden here at the garage or in my room, determined to find more, all while hiding my investigation from everyone—Rook, Aiden, the rest of the pack. They never knew what I was doing and I never wanted them to.
Another ten minutes passed, click after click, page after page of nothing, and then I saw it. One word lit up my screen, and I stopped breathing.
My dad’s name.
Michael Emberson.
I’d hacked and downloaded the fifteen-year-old door logs after finding a stray cab receipt in my dad’s emails. I had gone through four other building logs in the area and hadn’t expected this one to be any different.
The door logs from the downtown Valeport skyscraper were laid out before me now. Day by day, they had recorded his entry.
It was a clue, but one I didn’t know what to do with. He had been at this building day after day for nearly two weeks and then his name disappeared again. That could mean nothing.
Or it could mean everything.
I searched who leased the offices in the building and there were none who would have anything to do with his work—no artists, no brokers, no accountants. Nothing he’d have a reason to go all the way to Valeport to see.
My dad’s name came across the screen again and again. Every time he swiped his badge in and out of the building, it had been recorded, and now I knew every moment he had stepped foot inside.
I could find plenty of businesses who had rented office space there, but I also knew many operated off the books, making further online searches pointless. The only way to get real answers was to see it for myself.
I glanced up to see Aiden focusing on his phone, leaving me less guilty for sitting here so long. I clicked my phone on to drop the door logs into it.
“Shit,” I mumbled at the blank screen. I had forgotten to charge it again.
“Does that mean you are almost done?” Aiden’s voice drifted in through the open door of my little office, the bored tone of his voice making me grit my teeth together.
