Page 66 of An Unexpected Claim

Ephraim’s gaze was probing, trying to discern what I wasn’t saying.

“I don’t know what’s going to happen, but at the moment, we will work under the assumption that she is staying indefinitely.”

Tanner appeared in my open doorway, his expression concerned. “We need to talk.”

I nodded before lifting my chin at Asher and Ephraim, dismissing them.

“We’ll let you know when it’s done,” Asher assured me before they both exited the room.

Tanner shut the door and paced in front of it for a tense minute.

“Anytime, Tanner,” I grunted, anxious to return to the work I’d been doing before my enforcers arrived.

“I had a theory this morning and decided to take another look at the police report for Peyton’s incident.”

“What did you find?”

“It’s not what I found, it’s what I didn’t find.”

I crossed my arms over my chest, my mind whirring with possibilities. “The files are gone?”

“Not the files, but almost all the references to a witness. But Peyton’s name and address specifically were wiped from the reports. I even went a little broader, checking the entire database. She is nowhere in their system.”

My face formed a scowl as I digested Tanner’s discovery. I’d been over the case myself and I knew for a fact that Peyton’s information had been in there when I did.Someone had gone in and done the deed. “You’re sure it wasn’t us?” We hadn’t tasked anyone with the job, but sometimes our people took initiative. Not that it always panned out.

“Positive. I tried to find a trace of the hacker, a fingerprint, familiar code, anything, but they were damn good.”

I ran my hands over my hair, stopping before I dislodged the high bun on the back of my head. “I suppose it works to our advantage for keeping her hidden, but I doubt the hacker’s reasons were altruistic. We need to figure out their endgame.”

“I agree, but that’s not all.”

“What the fuck else?” I snarled.

“I had a hunch, so I checked a few other places. She’s all but disappeared from the digital world. Her hospital records were gone, the lease on her apartment has a different name—utilities too. Even the address in the DMV is different from the one in her dossier. It’s like someone is trying to wipe her out of existence.”

“Maybe.” Something felt off about this. I had nothing to back it up, but I wasn’t convinced it was her attacker. “What about her birth certificate? Passports? Social security?”

“Those don’t appear to have been tampered with.”

Not recently, anyway.

“It sounds to me like whoever it is focused on anyone being able to find her in New York.”

My phone rang and I ignored it, so we could continue our conversation without interruption. But when it ended and started ringing again immediately, Tanner gestured to it and said, “Probably should answer it.”

He was right. My first thought was Peyton, but it wasn’t the extension for my home phone. After a second, I realized it was Sam and I immediately picked it up. He was with Peyton. Something must have happened. “Is Peyton all right?”

“Yeah, man. She’s fine. It’s you who should be worried.”

“Excuse me?”

Sam sighed. “You didn’t tell me that you were keeping Peyton in the dark about everything. I realized it pretty fast, so I didn’t tell her anything specific. But she’s not stupid, Nathan. She knows you’re hiding shit.”

Just fucking great. The last thing I needed right now was another thing for us to fight about. “She doesn’t know anything though, right?”

Sam’s silence was more telling than any words.

“I thought you said you didn’t tell her anything,” I growled.

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