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“I want to get out of the car,” I say quietly. When they make no effort to move, I start to panic. “Let me the fuck out.”
That snaps them out of their stare-down trance.
“Raven, calm down,” Hunter says. “No one here is going to hurt you. And we don’t have to talk about what happened to your parents. We just … We just need to know why there’s no information about you, your aunt, uncle, or even your cousin anywhere.”
I’m not sure if I trust him or not, but truthfully, I’m more caught up on what he said. “There’s really hardly anything about us?”
He shakes his head. “I mean, there’s a record of your uncle working for the police department at the last place he lived and a couple of addresses, but the information is extremely basic. And then you …” He trails off.
“You’re what we call a ghost,” Zay finishes for him.
“I am?” I stupidly point to myself.
“The only things we could find were a few articles about your parents and a police record, but even that was sealed,” Jax says, rotating toward me and bringing his leg up onto the seat. “It’s very odd, but not completely unheard of in cases where people have gone into a witness protection program.”
They settle into silence again, and it clicks.
I gape at him. “Wait … you guys think I’m in the witness protection program?”
“We’re not sure,” Zay says. “But so far, it’s all we’ve come up with.”
“I …” I shake my head. “No. There’s no way.”
“So you don’t know if you are?” Jax questions, his gaze burrowing into me.
I shake my head again. “I … I’m not. At least, not that I’m aware of. And I’m guessing if I was, I’d probably know, because I’d have to play a part.”
They trade another look before their gazes settle on me.
“If you were, you’d lie to us,” Zay tells me. “So, how do we know for sure if you’re telling the truth?”
Panic trickles through me. “Well, I’m telling the truth. But even if I wasn’t …” I sink my teeth into my bottom lip, going over all the self-defense moves I know. “What’re you guys gonna do to me?” My shaky tone makes me cringe. I wanted to seem badass but messed that up.
Hunter looks taken aback. “What?”
“I think she thinks we’re going to hurt her,” Zay remarks, staring at me with intrigue.
“Well, we’re not.” Hunter sounds even more appalled. “Even if you were in the witness protection program, we wouldn’t rat you out.”
“But you said someone hired you to find out,” I say softly, “so that means if you found out I—my family—was, wouldn’t you have to tell them?”
When they don’t answer right away, my pulse quickens.
“No, we wouldn’t,” Hunter says with certainty, eliciting a questioning look from Zay. Hunter glares at him. “We are not our fathers.”
An uneven breath eases from Zay’s lips. “Yeah, you’re right.” He scrubs his hand over his head. “This is all a moot point anyway, since we don’t even know if they’re in the witness protection program.”
“I know, but I just want to make that clear,” Hunter stresses.
They start talking back and forth about that while I try to decide if I’m in any real danger or not.
Jax must sense this, because he leans over and whispers, “You’re fine. No one’s going to hurt you.”
I offer him a grateful smile, hoping he’s telling the truth.
He gives me a small smile back then scoots forward in the seat and interrupts Hunter and Zay. “It’s getting late,” he tells them. “If we’re going to convince her to help us, you two might want to start convincing her in a less frightening way.”
Zay and Hunter look at him then back at each other.
