Page 74 of Untamed Protector

Mike answers calmly, “Even if we had a photo, you wouldn’t recognize them. The guy who took a swing at me got his nose rearranged, and his eyes puffed shut. He kept getting at me until he almost lost his teeth. He’s probably getting stitched up in an ER somewhere right now.”

“Good point. I’ll call my sister. She can track down the jerk with the busted nose.” Then he turns to Damien, who’s just finished his call. “We need to get to work and make Vargas pay for this. Let’s find those guys and make them wish they never messed with us.”

Damien sees Lexi walk out of the bathroom. Her face is clean, her hair pulled back, but her wrist is turning purple. She’s wrapped one of my ties around it, probably from the mini dressing room next to the bathroom. “Can someone help me tie this into a splint?” she asks. Damien and Dominic go over and hug her. “Let’s see that wrist, Green Eyes,” Dominic says gently, checking her injury. Damien gives her a reassuring squeeze. “We’ll get them, Lexi. Don’t you worry about it.”

I move to help Lexi with the tie and bring her to the couch, but Lena waves me off. “I’ve got it. You guys seem a little on edge.”

Damien steps back, making room for Lena to stand next to Lexi, but Dominic doesn’t budge. He looks at Lena for a long moment, then gently touches her face, brushing back a loose strand of hair. We all watch in silence. Dominic notices us and walks back to the table, a little flustered. “Alright, everyone, let’s get down to business. Lena will take care of Lexi,” he says, trying to shift gears.

Damien plops himself down on my desk with his laid-back style that doesn’t really respect the luxury and comfort of an office like mine. Dominic stays by the bookshelf, eyes glued to Lena while he talks, and Lexi joins her on the couch. I need a good spot to stand where I can see everyone and ask the big question that’s on all our minds. “Why is Vargas after Lexi? If he’s pulling the strings, why would he risk blowing his cover by attacking her head-on?”

“What do we know about the accident?” Dominic cuts me off. I look at Lexi, nodding silently for her to speak.

Her voice trembles as she takes a deep breath and starts her story, the one that brought her to us. “It happened five years ago. I was a second-year student here at the university. Every weekend, I’d catch a train home to see my dad. He’s all the family I have left. Mom left us when I was eight, after a family tragedy. It was a Friday night, and I went straight to the factory where Dad worked to pick him up after his shift. It was almost midnight by then. I waited for him to finish up and even helped him with some papers. We decided to take a shortcut home, a side road. It was a dark night, with no moon in sight. He had his bike with him and was teasing me, saying I’d forgotten how to ride a bike since I went to college. I took it to prove him wrong. But the road was bumpy, and I wobbled, trying to keep my balance. Suddenly, we heard a car coming closer really fast.”

She takes a deep breath, her voice catching a little. “It just came barrelling toward us. Dad shoved me out of the way but couldn’t save himself in time. Then, the loud car with barely any lights smashed into him, breaking his left leg. It hit the brakes hard, tires squealing. I landed on the side of the road and hit my head on a rock. Then, I saw Dad get hit and fall right in the middle of the road behind the stopped car. I got a good look at it—the color and the glowing sticker on the back. Then everything went dark. I woke up in the hospital after two weeks in a coma. Later, I found out we’d both been unconscious for about half an hour before they found us.”

Lexi’s voice cracks with sadness, each word heavy with pain. “While I was in a coma, my dad refused to leave my bedside to get surgery himself. He was scared I wouldn’t wake up, and he’d never talk to me again. By the time I recovered, he needed multiple surgeries, but they couldn’t fix his leg. I got off easy with just a scar on my lip. I quit school to be by his side while he was in hospital. We lost our house, and my dad was declared permanently disabled, so he had to retire. Then, one day at the hospital, I got a call from his work, Peter’s factory. They helped us pay the medical bills and even gave me a job on the line. That’s how we got back on our feet financially and started feeling a little better. You probably know, or can guess, what happened next. Peter offered me a job here in the city. And then came the letters, the threats, Vargas… which brings us to today.”

Every word she says tightens a knot in my chest, her sadness seeping into me. This is such a raw moment for her, and I find myself holding my breath unconsciously, afraid to break the connection we’ve built. She trusted us enough to share her story. Now, it’s on me to end this nightmare for her.

“Do you think it was Vargas?” Damien asks.

“I know it was Vargas. He has the same tattoo on his neck as the symbol on the car—a Celtic knot. He seemed crazy and arrogant enough to be driving this kind of car.”

“Can you show us the picture of the car, Lexi?” I ask. “Or tell us about the model you thought you saw that night.” It might be hard for her to remember everything, but her memories are all we’ve got.

Lexi’s voice snaps, “I remember perfectly what I saw.” She pulls out her phone and scrolls through her photos. When she finds it, she shows it to us triumphantly. “This is it! The car that hit us, this exact model. Limited edition, Italian import. Only a few hundred were made in 2018. It can cost up to half a million. The owner must be wealthy.”

“Or it could be stolen. I’ll ask Glitch to dig out more. Can you give me the picture so I can send it to him?”

I forward the photo to the hacking whiz on my team. Meanwhile, Damien stands up and takes control of the conversation. “Hold on. If Vargas was the one driving that night, why would he risk everything by showing up around Lexi and Lena? He had to know she was Gabriel’s girlfriend, right? This whole thing doesn’t make sense. It’s either a dumb move, or he’s really cornered.”

“The statute of limitations will soon run out, and after that, I won’t be able to bring the driver to justice. It seems more like a desperate act to get me off his back,” Lexi says.

“But it’s still weird. Now we all know he’s the one who sent those threats to you. He’s not safe anymore, no matter what he does,” I cut in.

“Right, but there’s one other thing. Only my father and I can identify the car. With me in the city, asking around, knowing that I’m a witness, he probably got desperate,” Lexi says, letting out a long sigh as she finally understands the real danger she’s in.

“So, all he has to do is keep Lexi away from the car,” Damien continues. “That means the car’s still around, stashed somewhere. He’s just waiting for the clock to run out so he can use it again. And for Lexi to give up and leave the city.”

“Yeah. It’s an expensive car, but it must mean more than that to him. Why else would he hide it all this time?” I add. I mean, come on, who keeps a car like that locked away unless they’re nuts, think they’re untouchable, or really love that thing? What’s Vargas’s deal with this car?

“True. Whoever’s been hiding it doesn’t want to lose it. Otherwise, they wouldn’t hold on to evidence of a crime about to be discovered,” Dominic adds, reading my mind.

“The file on the accident is incomplete—pages are missing. Luckily, I talked to an officer who was on duty that night and worked the case until he was told to stop.” Damien really went above and beyond digging into this for me.

“Told to stop? By whom?” Lexi snaps.

“That’s all I know. It could’ve been anyone with a senior role at the local police station. Do you remember any high-ranking officers from back then?” Damien asks.

“Guys, Glitch sent more intel,” I cut in. “Everything’s falling into place now. Right after the incident at the port, I told him to dig into Vargas’s background and find out more about his family.”

“Let’s hear it then. Come on, spill it out!” Dominic says.

“Well, Vargas is a real piece of work. It turns out everything we suspected about him these past few years turned out to be true.”

Dominic gives me a squinty look, holding his jaw. “Meaning?”

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