Page 72 of Craved By the Mountain Man

“Looks like it.”

I turn the phone so she can see the message.

A motel on the edge of town.

Cheap. Forgettable.

Hannah stares at the screen.

“That makes no sense.”

“It does if he tracked your phone before you lost signal.”

“He knew I came here?”

“Maybe not the exact location. Wildwood would be enough.”

I call my contact.

He answers on the second ring.

“What do you have?”

“More than I expected.”

My hand tightens around the phone.

“Talk.”

“Declan Smitt isn’t new to this.”

I go still.

Hannah watches my face.

“How many?”

“Still digging. At least four women connected to him over the last few years. Same pattern.”

“What pattern?”

“He gets close. Gets access to their information. Debt appears in their names.”

Cold settles through me.

“And the men with him?”

“Part of it. Looks like the debt is leverage. They scare the women, isolate them, then use what they owe to control them.”

“For what?”

A pause.

“Trafficking.”

My jaw locks.

“Declan recruits them.”