Page 56 of Cash

“No neighbors across the street. And no one on either side of her has doorbell cameras. The school’s a bust. It doesn’t have security in the parking lot or facing the side of the building leading into the woods.”

That was a huge oversight. A kid could be snatched off the playground and taken through the woods. I’d be having a conversation with Lore about Cara continuing to attend a school with such shitty safety protocols.

“So that’s it?” Smith inquired. “Nothing else on Lore’s feeds?”

“Nothing that’ll help.”

There was something in Garrett’s tone that snagged my attention. When I glanced in his direction he was already staring at me. “I need to see you in my office.”

Garrett’s office was a large glass enclosure in the main office space. More often than not, the glass was smoked so no one could see in, but he could see out. Meaning I could see Cara but she still wouldn’t be able to see me.

“Cara—”

Before I could finish, Nebraska interjected, “If she comes in looking, I’ll bring her to you.”

I made it to the door but halted when Zane called my name.

“Yeah?”

“You good?”

Not even a little bit.

Instead of lying to my boss, I simply held his stare.

“Right,” he mumbled. “We’ll work on your girl getting comfortable⁠—”

“She stays with me,” I cut him off. “Until it’s time to get Lore. There were three numbers in her phone. Three people Lore told her she could trust—me, you, and Nebraska. When the time comes it’ll be up to Cara who she stays with—you or Nebraska. But until then, she doesn’t leave my side.”

There was a minute change in Zane’s gaze. Something that looked a lot like pride. Though I couldn’t be sure because I’d never seen it directed at me. But I had seen him look at the others with the same glint.

“You’re heard.”

I followed Garrett out of the conference room and down the hall into the large open space. There were private offices lining the perimeter. Desks were strategically placed throughout the room, with Garrett’s workstation in the middle already smoked out.

Robbie and Asher were at the far end of the room, Nerf guns up shooting each other with darts. Eric was on the opposite side of the room watching the girls huddled close, whispering.

Zane loved to give his brother, Linc a hard time about the twins. He had all sorts of outrageous nicknames for them. But the truth was it was Eric who was the brains behind the chaos. Out of the three boys he was the most intense. He watched and planned. DNA or the lessons and values Zane was teaching his son, Eric was fiercely protective over his older cousins, sister, and the rest of the kids. Hell, the kid was even a spitting image of his father. I had no doubt one day he’d be running Z Corps.

I slowed my steps, taking in Cara with Gia and Frankie. Whatever they’d said made her smile. And fuck, that tiny grin hit me straight in the heart.

“You coming?” Garrett asked, waiting for me at the door.

No. I wanted to stand there and soak in Cara’s smile. I wanted to see if it would get bigger. I wanted to watch and make sure she was having fun. But Garrett wouldn’t have asked to speak to me in private if it wasn’t important.

“Yeah.” I stepped into his office and blinked at the mess that never failed to shock me. “Dude, how the fuck do you⁠—”

“Save it. I know where everything is.” He pointed to a chair in front of a monitor. “You need to watch something.”

I pulled the chair out and sat. “What is it?”

He moved the mouse to wake up the screen. A handful of thumbnails were on the screen. “Start with the first one,” he said, and moved back to the door. “I’ll give you some privacy.”

Privacy?

What the fuck?

“Garrett—”