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“For now, you can start with the photos,” I muttered. “Check them until your eyes bleed. I don’t care how long it takes. Find anything that looks out of place.”
The guys nodded and dived into the pile of photos, which only included the fully dressed versions of Birdie. There was no way in hell they’d see the ones locked in my safe at home.
“Can I have a word with you?” Lucian gestured to the other room, and I followed.
“What is it?” I asked.
“There’s something I keep thinking about.” His unfocused gaze drifted to the window. “The cons, the money… Gypsy believed her sister was trying to follow in her footsteps, but it doesn’t sit right with me. The amount of money Birdie’s stolen, it doesn’t add up. Where’s it going?”
The same thought had crossed my mind, and it bothered me that I didn’t know. She had a closet full of expensive things, but she’d bought all them before I started watching her. She wasn’t shopping. She wasn’t doing drugs. And other than the occasional buck she would flip Trouble’s way, the money seemed to be disappearing into a black hole. I’d considered she was saving it for a rainy day, but now that Lucian mentioned it, I couldn’t shake the thought.
“I thought it was a compulsion,” I admitted. “It didn’t matter how fucking tired she looked, every day she’d get back out there and do it again. But now I don’t know.”
“Have you asked her?” he questioned.
I shook my head. “She doesn’t know about the video. I thought it was best.”
Lucian was quiet for a moment, but I could tell he didn’t approve of my decision even before the words left his mouth. “You can’t handle her with kid gloves on this, Ace. She needs to explain what she’s been doing. Maybe Birdie thinks she can handle this on her own, but she can’t. If she’s been hiding something, we need to know about it. In the meantime, she’s putting all of us at risk.”
For the first time since I’d known him, Lucian’s words enraged me. He was someone I considered a friend and a brother. He’d saved me. He’d given me a life and guided me along the way. My loyalty to him had never wavered. But right now, all I wanted to do was tell him to shut the fuck up.
“Don’t tell me how to treat Birdie,” I bit out. “You don’t understand the things she’s been through.”
“I understand plenty.” His voice softened. “Do you think my wife hasn’t been through those same things?”
“It’s different.” I turned around and tried to gather my thoughts as I pinched the bridge of my nose. “Birdie is sensitive. She’s fragile. She isn’t like Gypsy.”
“I think they are more alike than any of us would care to admit,” Lucian noted. “But regardless, you can’t help her unless you know the truth.”
I knew he was right, but the truth was, I didn’t know if Birdie would ever tell me even if she did know who was blackmailing her. In the time we’d been together, I’d managed to break down some of her barriers, but she hadn’t given all of herself to me. Not yet. She was still holding back. Still expecting the worse. I couldn’t blame her with her history and my fucked-up way of navigating this thing between us. I was too proud to admit I didn’t know what the fuck I was doing, but I wanted her to believe I could save her just as much as I wanted to believe it myself.
She wouldn’t be another victim to fate. More than ever, I had to acknowledge the beliefs Ed beat into me were wrong. She wasn’t doomed by being with me. There was still time, and I had every intention of proving it.
“Hey, Ace.” Kodiak whistled from the other room. “I think we might have something.”
Lucian and I both hoofed it back to the table. The guys had several photographs spread out over the mahogany, and all of them were of Birdie. Kodiak was quick to point out what they’d found.
“Check out this asshole in the back here.” He pointed at a guy in a cheap suit. “Take a good look at him.”
I did, and the first thing I noticed was how he was holding up his cell phone. It looked like he was snapping photos, but from this angle, it was impossible to tell if Birdie was the subject. As I scanned over the photos, a pattern started to emerge. It was obvious I wasn’t the only predator tracking her.
“In this one, he’s wearing a ball cap and a sport’s coat,” Kodiak explained. “And this one, a wig and a beard.”
“What the fuck?” I leaned closer, inspecting the features. “He has a different hair color in every shot.”
Kodiak nodded. “Without seeing what’s on his phone, it’s hard to say if he was taking photos of her, but it’s a big fucking coincidence. And I know how you feel about coincidences.”
