Erik’s icy blue eyes flash as he leans back on the bare cot, stretching his legs out in front of him. “All signs point to her,” he drawls, cutting me off before I can lash out. “But she may not have leaked Mark’s location willingly.”
“You think someone got to her?” Mavros asks.
“Not exactly,” Erik continues, eyes returning to mine. “Didn’t Noctis have to block a number from her phone? One of those fucked-up family members, right? Her stepbrother kept hounding her or some shit?”
“Half-brother,” I correct, catching on to what he’s getting at. “Noctis said the fucker has his claws in deep. Evie didn’t have any form of social media or even the illusion of friends before she met us—because of him.”
“And don’t you think someone that controlling would freak the fuck out the moment the cage door was kicked open?”
“He tracked her,” I whisper, fists flexing.
“Not physically,” Mavros adds. “We cleared the area.”
“Her phone,” I ground out, pacing between the two of them. “This has nothing to do with the Seven or the southern circuit and everything to do with Evie.”
“Tempest said the half-brother is obsessed with her.” Erik tilts his head, weighing his next words. “I think something happened when they were younger. Tempest hasn’t said it outright, but she got this haunted look in her eyes.”
My heart hammers against my ribs. I shake my head against the truth clawing its way out. I had Noctis run the standard background check on Evie before she moved in… but that was when I was only protecting Tempest. And again when he set up a forwarding number for Evie. I underestimated the danger her family posed. I should’ve dug deeper.Fuck, I should’ve scoured her past, combing the shadows for any creep who ever touched her.
My knucklescrackfrom how hard my fists clench. I want to rage against the bars, to scream and threaten and kill until my little fox is tucked in close to my side. But instead, Evie’s dipshit brother had Daddy call in a favor, locking me in a cage and leaving her exposed.
“Shit,” I breathe, dropping onto the edge of the cot beside Erik. “Tempest asked if Evie could stay with us rent-free. I assumed her parents were cutting her off.”
“But you think it’s something more now?” Mavros asks, biceps straining against his shirt as he crosses his arms.
“They’re pulling her from school,” Erik adds.
My eyes snap to his. “When? And how the fuck do you know that?”
He shrugs. “I don’t know, brother. Tempest felt shitty airing out all of Evie’s trauma. I didn’t press for details, but she was worried, so I have to assume it’s soon.”
Adrenaline floods my veins, my mind spiraling with all the worst-case scenarios—everything that could be happening to Evie without me there to protect her.
But then a wash of calm settles in my chest.
She’s here.
I’m not sure how, but I know Evie is near. Following the pulse of energy tugging at something deep in my bones, I tilt my head toward the camera and stand up, staring straight into the lens.
Are you out there, little fox?
I get my answer minutes later when the crispclipof boots and a familiar air of pompousness fills the hallway. A stout man with a grotesque combover and weak jaw glares at us before swiping his badge over the lock. There’s an audibleclickas the bar retracts.
“You three are free to go.”
The words sound painful for him to say. Mavros grins, showing off his slightly too-long canines.
“We posted bail?” he asks.
“Hardly,” the cop sneers. “Despite the good sense of Father Michael and her family, Evie provided all of you with concrete alibis.”
Something warm blooms in my chest as I follow Erik and Mavros out of the cell. My ferocious little fox defied every expectation and proved her loyalty to us. To me. She should’ve never been questioned, but I can’t stop the pulse of pride that surges at knowing she did it for me.
We reach the lobby. Mavros and Erik join my brothers and I’m just about to follow when I hear the cop with the shitty hair piece lean forward and mutter under his breath:
“The used-up, disgraceful slut will get what’s coming to her.”
34
