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Belle snorts, not at all surprised. “Have you heard from Cal yet?” she asks as she climbs out of bed.
“Yeah. He says he’s fine.” I hand her my phone so she can read the messages.
Her brow scrunches as she reads. “This doesn’t sound like Cal.”
“I agree. I think we should head over there. Maybe take Willa with us.”
Belle nods as she leaves the room, her face still scrunched in concentration. I know she’s trying to figure out what’s going on with Cal, but I doubt she’ll have any luck.
I shuffle out after her, mentally exhausted from the day, but not willing to let her out of my sight for more than a few seconds.
Willa has Belle in a tight embrace the moment she spots her. Mav is standing behind them waiting for his turn.
“I didn’t realize you were here,” I tell him.
He smiles and shrugs. “I told Willa barging in here and screaming was rude.”
Once Mav gives Belle a hug, I motion for him to follow me into the kitchen while the girls settle on the couch.
“So it’s over?” he asks the moment we’re out of earshot.
I shake my head. “Belle said Brad kept talking about a boss. The police are trying to figure out who he means since everyone, including the IRS, thinks his paychecks are coming from his mom’s financial firm.”
“And it’s not his mom?”
“Doesn’t seem like it. She had a stroke recently and can barely speak or move. Brad put her in a nursing home and left the business to kind of just run itself with the staff his mother had in place.”
“Who would do this, then? And why? Belle isn’t exactly an obvious target for any reason. She wasn’t even in the spotlight until Cal dragged her into it.”
“I don’t know who, but the why is Ezra. It has to be. I just don’t understand what we’re missing there.”
Maverick pulls his hair in frustration. “Ezra was a normal twenty-year-old college student. He wasn’t mixed up in anything. It doesn’t make any sense.”
I’m about to agree with him, but just then, my phone starts ringing, and a name I didn’t think I would see again appears on the screen.
“Dad?” I answer.
“You need to stop looking into Ezra.” My dad’s voice shocks me so much it takes me a moment to process what he just said.
“What? Why? Why would I do that?” My temper is escalating quickly. I haven’t heard from this man in years, and he calls me just to tell me to stop looking for my brother.
“You need to stop, Malikai. You don’t understand. Ezra is gone. Leave it.”
“What the fuck, Dad?”
“Leave it!” he shouts before hanging up.
I immediately go to call him back, but I get a robotic message saying that the line is out of service.
“What the fuck?” I shout. Everyone is staring at me, waiting for an explanation. The girls must have made their way into the kitchen looking for us.
“My dad doesn’t want me to look into Ezra,” I explain, since that’s all the information I have anyway.
“He’s probably why Kelly just quit,” Belle says, coming up to me and taking my hand in hers.
“Fucking probably,” I sigh. All the outside forces trying to stop me from finding out what happened to my brother aren’t having the effect they’re hoping it would. If anything, I’m more determined now than I ever was.
“What now?” Belle asks, looking up at me with her bruised and swollen face.
