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“Wellhellotoyoutoo, Sky,” Jasper says, his throaty chuckle vibrating through the speaker.
“Hi Jasper,” I huff out in exasperation. “What did you find?”
“I thought old friends are supposed to chat and catch up before they get straight to business,” Jasper chides. Typing echoes in the background, and I suppress the urge to rush him along again, reminding myself that he’s doing me a favor. “The city hasn’t been the same since you left.”
“Sorry, Jasper, there’s just a lot going on.” I sigh and scrub a hand over my face as I take a seat. Taking a deep breath, I focus on the video paused on my computer screen, willing my heart to calm its frantic pace.
“Let me guess, it’s confidential,” Jasper huffs in understanding. “I don’t envy you in the slightest.”
“You’ll find out the stresses of being an alpha soon enough, Jasper,” I say, tapping idly on the mouse as I suppress the urge to replay the video again.
“Don’t remind me,” he groans. “I’d prefer to stay behind my computer screen for as long as possible, thank you very much.”
“I’m sure your father won’t accept that for much longer, and neither will your pride,” I say, almost grateful for the familiar conversation.
That was one of the first things Jasper and I bonded over when we met. He’s poised to take over for his father as alpha of their pride, as I was for my pack. However, Jasper never wanted to be the lion in charge, and instead made himself useful with his computer skills to avoid taking over for as long as possible.
He’s the only person I’d trust with something like this. I hadn’t even told Monte I was getting someone else to look at the clip—something I’m beyond grateful for now.
“Yeah, I’d rather not talk about it,” Jasper grumbles. “I don’t need the universe welcoming any of that BS into my life right now.”
“Oh, look who’s in a rush now that their personal life is the topic of discussion.” I laugh half-heartedly as anxiety closes around my throat. “I’ll give you a pass if you stop dragging this out and answer my question.”
“You drive a hard bargain, but I guess that’s fine,” he teases, tapping on his keyboard for a few moments.
I’m about to prod him again when my computer chimes and a notification pops up in the bottom corner with an email.
“So it wasn’t tampered with,” Jasper starts as I hurriedly click on the pop-up. I vaguely register the email flashing across the screen, but my mind goes numb as his words sink in.
“What?” I breathe, my heart plummeting with that one sentence. I thought I’d prepared myself for the worst, but the sick curl of dread tightening around my stomach tells me otherwise.
“Let me finish,” he huffs in exasperation. “The video wasn’t tampered with, but I found something else.”
“Maybe you shouldn’t have paused for dramatic effect,” I grumble, and pull in a shaky breath, trying to calm my racing pulse.
“You caught me,” he teases. “I was able to enhance the video quality, and I found something else I know you’ll be interested in.”
My chest tightens as I focus on the email. There isn’t anything written in the body, but there’s an attachment.
“Let me know when you’re ready, and I’ll talk you through it.”
I hold on to that ember of hope and download it, my breath catching in my throat as the file seems to take an eternity to load.
“It’s ready,” I breathe, hurriedly clearing my throat at the show of emotion in my tone. Jasper might be my friend, but I haven’t told him just how much weighs on this.
“Okay, let’s hit play now,” he says.
My palms are clammy as I shakily press play, my eyes riveted on the screen, not wanting to miss any detail. I immediately notice the enhancement in the quality. It had been grainy before, and now I can see each detail almost as clearly as if I was there on that rooftop too. A shiver of fear slithers up my spine at that thought, and I swallow the bile that climbs up my throat. If it felt like all the air was sucked from my lungs when I first watched it, how would it feel now? Will that gaping wound in my chest ever be able to heal after this?
I need to watch this,I remind myself, strengthening my resolve.I have to see what Jasper found.
The gunman walks across the rooftop, gun case in hand. He pulls out his gun and screws the silencer onto it, taking aim as my father walks out into the alley.
My bottom lip quivers, but I quickly clamp my mouth shut against the sound of desperation trying to slip out. Zeke presses the trigger, and I fight back the urge to close my eyes. I know exactly what comes next—but instead, the video freezes, my father still unaware, his focus on the conversation he’s having over the phone.
“Pause it here,” Jasper says, catching me off guard. I suck in a startled breath, so caught up in the clip that I almost forgot we were still on the phone. I hurriedly click pause, not wanting to miss anything. “I froze the frame here for a few seconds because this was the first sign I had that something isn’t as it seems.”
“What do you mean?” I ask, leaning in to get a better look.
