Page 29 of Unlocked

"And connections," Archer added. "Which Davis has."

"You think Davis has that skill set?"

"I think Davis has the connections," Archer stressed. "And if he's not the architect, he could easily be the man who got the ball rolling with the other three."

Ryker considered that, his expression grave. "So… You think he dealt with Kelly, Lebowitz, and North directly."

"It fits," Archer said. "They'd be afraid of him. Afraid of what he could do to them. That would keep them in line and quiet."

Ryker exhaled slowly. "Could he, though? Does he still have that kind of power? After the whole bomb thing?"

"The President doesn't want him dead," Archer said. "That's some kind of pull, considering Davis almost blew up half the government."

"Fair," Ryker acknowledged. "That makes sense. But why is this so important to you personally?" He held Archer's gaze, unflinching. "I get that if Davis is behind the Ponzi scheme, it gives us leverage. And I know you hate him. But what's your real stake in this?"

Archer didn't answer right away.

Because the truth was, this wasn't just about rules anymore. It wasn't just that Davis was the worst kind of scum. It was about Tatum. About the fear he'd seen in her eyes last night when she realized someone had been in her apartment. About the way she'd looked sitting across from him, trying to be brave, holding herself together with sheer stubbornness when most people would have fallen apart entirely.

That realization sat heavily in his chest. Dangerous.

"My job is to make sure no one gets hurt while they're inside the Society," he said. "So it depends on whether meetings took place here, whether people signed away their money on Society grounds. If that's the case, they were harmed within the Society. It gives me the right to take out Davis regardless of what the President wants."

"That’s thin logic," Ryker said.

"Yes, it is."

Ryker leaned back in the visitor's chair, his eyes never leaving Archer's face. "There's more, isn't there?"

"The money," Archer said flatly.

Ryker's brow furrowed.

"If you remember," Archer continued, moving back toward his desk but not sitting, "Davis was broke after his last fiasco. His failed vice-presidential aspirations humiliated him, and he didn't have the funds to recover from it, not after your better half inherited the farm in Texas."

Ryker nodded slowly, and his brows lifted, as if the pieces clicked into place. "So if he's behind this..."

"He suddenly has billions," Archer finished. The number hung in the air between them, heavy with implication.

Ryker exhaled. "And you're worried about what he might do with that kind of money."

"Yes."

"What exactly are you afraid of?" Ryker asked.

Archer drew in a slow breath. He hadn't said this out loud, not fully, not to anyone except in fragments to Tatum. Saying it now made it real in a different way.

"What I'm really afraid of," he said, his voice quiet but steady, "is that he’ll use that money to make a play to be the head of the Society."

Ryker went completely still.

"With that kind of capital," Archer continued, "and the reach that comes with the position, Austin Davis becomes untouchable. Unstoppable."

"Fuck," Ryker muttered. "We thought it might be a possibility, but we didn't think he actually had the money. But if he's the one behind the Ponzi scheme then..."

"Yes."

"You really think he could do it?"