Page 74 of (Un)Spoken

Adam’s face fell. “Not yet. Devyn’s been on the phone with Jack most of the morning. He’s agreed to help us out, but he wants a favor from Theo that he can call in at any point.”

“What kind of favor?”

“No idea, but Theo already agreed, so Jack’s going over all his files. He agrees with Theo; all of this seems really similar to what happened to his client. He can’t tell us who for confidentiality reasons, but he’ll let us know if there are any connections we can explore.”

“And how are you?” I asked, running my fingers along the creases in his brow. “You lookterrible.”

He smirked down at me. “Ouch, that’s harsh, trouble. I’ll have you know, I was named one of the Sexiest Men Alive three years in a row.”

“Just calling it like I see it, Rice.” I sighed as I rested my head against his chest. “So, what’s next? What do you need me to do?”

Just as Adam started to answer me, Cole walked through the door, a haunted expression in his eyes. He scowled as he surveyed the room, his eyes dropping when they met mine. My heart sank in my chest. Even though I’d already heard from Cam and knew Emilia was settled and safe far from here, my mind immediately went to her.

He grabbed Alex and dropped a kiss to her head before coming over to us, looking between Adam and me. His gaze landed on Adam before he said, “Can we talk? Alone?”

I grabbed Adam’s hand. “What happened?”

Cole shook his head and turned to his best friend. Adam just nodded in agreement. “Whatever it is, I’m going to tell her. You might as well get it out of the way.”

Cole ran his hand over his face. “It’s the apartment. Apparently, someone broke in during the night and destroyed the cameras leading up to your place. We’d already cleared out the lodge, just in case, so there was no one there to hear or see anything.” He walked to me, placing his hand on my shoulder. “I’m so sorry, Tori. It’s all destroyed. Looks like they doused the whole thing in some sort of chemical.”

My heart broke for a moment, but not for me. I knew how much that space meant to Cole, how much time he and Alex had put into making it memorable for Emilia and me. I shook my head, pulling him into a hug, “It’s just stuff. As long as everyone is okay, that’s all I care about. I’m more upset they destroyed all your hard work.”

“Don’t care about that,” Cole mumbled against my hair. “Would have never forgiven myself if something happened to you.” He pulled back and ran his hand over his face. “But this shit ends now.” He glanced over at Theo. “Any more clues from the emails?”

“No,” Theo called out, exhaustion plaguing each of his words. “But there’s something here. I can feel it.”

“Could it be someone you know?” Calla asked, her hand going to her stomach.

“I’m not sure. It’s like all of the pieces are laid out in front of me, but I’m missing the one that bring everything together.” He ran his hand over his face. “I”m going to grab some files from my office. See if there’s anything else that can help connect the dots.”

His wife came to his side, placing her hand on his arm. “Not alone. I’m going to come with you.”

“Absolutely not,” Theo barked. “I’m not a target. I’ll be fine, beautiful.” Theo’s eyes narrowed on Cole and Adam. “She does not leave your sight. Am I understood?”

Calla started to argue, but Theo silenced her with one look. She grumbled but hugged him anyway. He whispered in her ear before pulling away, giving us a wave as he headed out the door.

Tension ripped through the room as the door slammed shut behind him. We silently prayed this would be it, that Theo would be able to make the pieces fit. Calla exhaled first, turning around to face everyone else. “Alright, what’s next?”

FORTY-THREE

For hours, we worked in shifts, piecing together a timeline of all the messages and comparing them to events I had attended and other dates on my calendar. It was an odd feeling, looking at your life through an objective lens, watching back each choice you made, wondering if that was the moment you made yourself a target.

Because as much as everyone could say it wasn’t my fault, it wasn’t easy to convince myself. Not when the people I cared about were putting themselves in danger’s path all because they wanted to help me. Each smile I gave, each interview I sat through, only reminded me of the man I used to be, the one so consumed by his career that his life was all smoke and mirrors.

My worldview had been so narrowed, so focused, that it took something of this magnitude to pull me away from it. If it hadn’t, who knows where I would be right now? And as much as I hated feeling like a victim, at least something good had come out of it. I found the love of my life during my darkest period, and as much as I wished she wasn’t indanger right now, I couldn’t say I regretted being with Victoria.

I glanced down at her, softly slumbering in my lap. When I insisted she sit on the couch and take a break, Victoria tried to fight me. But after only a couple of minutes of my fingers running through her hair, her breathing softened, and her eyes reluctantly closed. Looking down at my girl, I tried to keep up the fight, to match the fierce determination she held when she told me we would end this together. But with each passing hour, my faith started to wane. After all, if trained professionals had no idea who they were looking for, what chance did we have?

Across the coffee table, Alex let out a little gasp, her eyes darting up to meet mine. She motioned to the kitchen, probably trying to keep Victoria or the others from waking up. Sliding out slowly, I took a pillow and placed it under Victoria’s head, kissing her brow before following Alex.

She held her laptop open, placing it on the kitchen island. I frowned when I looked at the screen. “What did you find?”

“I’m not really sure,” she mumbled. “I’ve been playing around with our calendar from the lodge, trying to think if anyone else might have seen something while we're all looking in another direction.” She pointed her finger at one date. “This weekend last month, right after Victoria came into town, a group of hikers wanted to check out the local wildlife. They’d asked if I would mind if they placed some cameras up behind their cabins to capture anything coming into our property.”

“Which cabin?” I asked.

“The one right next to yours,” she answered as she pulled up another browser window on her computer screen, showing the details of her property with some x’s markedbehind the back row of the cabins. “This is where they wanted to place the cameras. I know none of them are directly pointed at your cabin…”

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