Page 55 of Stealing Sloane

Damn it, Jacob!

She was torn—fear gripped her, thinking of the danger he could be in, but at the same time, the evidence they needed was within her reach.

This is important.

With a determined huff, she went back to work, doing her best to finish as fast as she could.

Sixteen right.

Eleven left.

Twenty-seven right.

Click!

She did a mental dance of joy as the door opened. Holding her breath, she opened the safe. Inside were stacks and stacks of black books. She picked one at random and opened it. The date was from five years ago in July, and there were lists of names under the date. She recognized her own and three other people, the name of a bank they robbed, and how much they had taken. Her fingers trembled as she flipped through the other pages. More dates, details of more crimes. But surely Ronan wouldn’t?—

She gasped when her eyes landed on the next entry. A date from the month before the robbery, an address, and a name—Erin Henderson. She was a member of the clan, a few years older than Sloane. She’d been found dead in her home, suicide they said. But there were initials next to it—GM.

Garret McCall. The Beta.

Erin had been vocal about her displeasure over Ronan’s rule after her brother had been killed in a gas station robbery. Peoplejust thought she’d been depressed over her brother’s death and that’s why she committed suicide. But if this entry meant what she thought it meant …

This was it.A starting point, as Jacob had said. They could start looking at the events of that night, perhaps tie Garret to the murder with other evidence.

And if Ronan had recorded this, then there would surely be others. Even one murder committed against a clan member could put him away for life.

She wasted no time in gathering the books and placing them in the waterproof backpack she carried. Thankfully they all fit, and she slung it over her shoulder, hurrying toward the door. When she reached for the knob, to her surprise, it opened by itself.

“Well, well, look who we have here.”

Her blood froze at the sight of the person on the other side. For a moment, it was like a dream. But this was no sweet dream, more like a nightmare.

“Nothing to say to me after all this time?” Ronan smiled, his mouth all pearly white teeth, like a shark about to eat its prey. Behind him were half a dozen of his burly human bodyguards forming a wall, preventing her from escaping.

“I—Jacob! What have you done?—”

“Tsk, tsk. No need to be so dramatic over your lover boy,” he sneered. “Garret, bring him here.”

The Beta, who was taller than all the other bodyguards and was about three hundred pounds of pure muscle, emerged from the shadows like a hulking animal. He held a figure in his arms, bent over and limp, covered in white powder. It managed to hold its head up and green eyes stared back at her.

“Ssssslllooanne. Rrruuunn!”

“Jacob!” she yelled. “What did you do to him?”

“Don’t you worry, he’s not dying, just tranquilized.” Ronan held up a gun. “A powerful one, could kill an elephant. Won’t last too long, but I got several more rounds.”

“Rrruunnn!” Jacob slurred as he struggled to break free from Garret’s grasp.

“We sprayed him down with a fire extinguisher when he tried to light up, and his hands are encased in fire-retardant gloves.” Ronan said smugly. “After what that Lone Wolf reported back to us, I wasn’t going to take any chances with this hybrid. I’m glad to know you got my message.”

Ronan knew she would be watching that teleconference. He was expecting it and for her to come back. She walked right into a trap, leading Jacob along.

“Let him go,” Sloane said. “Please.”

“You’re begging me now?” Ronan laughed. “After what you tried to do to me? Do you know how much trouble you’ve caused? The discord you’d sown after you tried to kill me? A few members are already threatening to leave. Well, I can’t have that. I shouldn’t have let you live, after what your parents did. It’s just too bad Garret was only able to take you back when CPS separated you and your siblings. You should be grateful I allowed you to live. Your usefulness to me is the only reason I haven’t gotten rid of you all these years.”

“You’re a monster,” she spat.

---