Page 102 of The Devil's Scars

“Her name is Willa Moore,” Sam said. “She says she’s Zoe’s best friend from back in Fargo.”

“Willa,” Wolf said, stunned. He let Dawson go now, didn’t even notice when the other man fell to his knees, gasping and gagging. “She went back to Fargo weeks and weeks ago, man. She’s been sendin’ Zee texts from a vacation with her boyfriend, and from their new place back in North Dakota. They just moved in together.”

“Gil was using her phone,” Sam said quietly. “Because it definitely wasn’t her sending Zoe those messages. I promise you that. Willa told the cops that Gil grabbed her at the airport, and then used her phone to send Zoe messages about a trip with her boyfriend Jimmy, other texts to Jimmy who thought his girlfriend had broken up with him and decided to stay in Denver permanently, and to Willa’s mother, telling her the same thing. Gil was telling stories to keep everyone from noticing that Willa was missing.”

“Holy fuck,” Wolf said, staring at Sam. “He… Gil? Keira’s Dad? For real?”

“That’s what Willa told me.”

“Wait,” Kansas said suddenly. “Sam, you said that he tortured and mutilated Willa. What do you mean?”

Sam sighed. “She’s missing a finger. She says that Gil cut it off after a couple of weeks when she refused to talk.”

There was a long, long silence. Then Wolf said:

“Her middle finger?”

“Yes.” Sam looked startled. “How did you –”

“Goddammit.” Wolf suddenly understood everything, saw everything, but he did so way too late. “Just… goddammit.”

“Wolf?”

For the third time in less than thirty minutes, Wolf heard a voice and turned to look at the lounge door, but this time, it wasn’t with dread, shock, or anger. No, this time it was with hope, joy, happiness. Maybe a bit of surprise after all, considering how things had ended between the two of them just two hours ago. It then occurred to him that maybe she wasn’t there with good news.

“Zoe,” he said, already moving towards her. “Baby girl… is Keira OK?”

“What? Oh. Oh, yes. I mean… you know. Still intubated and sedated, but she’s breathing better. Clearer.”

Every man in the room sighed in relief.

“But I – I heard about Willa. From Doctor Innis.” Zoe looked over at Sam, who gave her a warm smile. “And I just talked to Willa, down in the E.R. And the thing is, I…I just… I have to…”

“What, baby girl? You what?”

Suddenly, Zoe was sobbing, and every one of Wolf’s protective instincts savagely surged forward. He grabbed her into a bear hug, and held her close, not caring at all that they had an audience, just wanting to make it better, whatever it was.

“Zee? What’s upsettin’ you?” Wolf stroked her tumbled hair. “Talk to me.”

She gave a tiny, watery giggle that ended in a squeak. “Well, between Keira, Scars, not having a place of employment anymore, and now Willa, what’s not upsetting me, is probably the better question.”

“Yeah, I’ll give you that one.” Wolf held her away from him, examined her beautiful face. “This is a lot, huh?”

“You know it.” She paused. “Could we – could we talk alone for a minute?”

“Yeah. Course.” The words weren’t even out of his mouth before at the guys headed for the door as one. “Hey, Kansas?”

The bald man turned to his President, already knowing what he was going to say. “I’ll call ‘em off, Wolf. All of ‘em. Ice, Cain, Silver… everyone. Don’t worry. Consider it done.”

Wolf nodded, glad yet again that Kansas was a smart-as-a-whip guy, one who could fill in the blanks just fine on his own. Saved Wolf time and energy, and that was good, because right now, this woman got all of both of those things.

“Ummm,” Zoe said, watching the men file out, and deciding to just not ask what the guys were being called off from. “I kinda thought that we’d leave the room, go talk in the hallway. I mean – it’s way easier to move two people than thirty.”

“Nah. That ain’t how this works, Zee, and you know it. Whatever you need or want, we give it to you, and none of us finds it a problem, not ever. Don’t give it a second thought.”

“Yeah. Yeah, I know.” Tears were in her eyes again. “And that’s why I’m so sorry, Wolf.”

“Ohhh-kaaaay.” He scratched the stubble on his chin, wondering what the hell he was missing here. “Sorry for what?”

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