“Hold on,” he said, his attention snapping back to his screen. “Just a second to bring up the file.”
I watched him work, his focus absolute. Oliver wasn’t the type to throw a punch, but when it came to finding information, he was the champ. He could track anyone, uncover anything, and turn chaos into patterns like no one else.
“Got it,” he said after a few minutes, leaning back with a triumphant grin. “The guy running the operation is Gabriel Lopez. I pulled financial records, property leases, even a few interesting emails. Looks like he’s funneling money through dummy accounts to pay off some... ‘associates.’”
“Associates?” I echoed.
“Men like Dragon Fire. And cops, mostly,” Oliver said, clicking on another file. “He’s got half the local force in his pocket. That’s how he’s been moving so freely through the state.”
I cursed under my breath. “Of course he does.”
“There’s more,” Oliver said, his grin fading. “They’ve got a shipment coming in soon.”
My stomach twisted. “What kind of shipment?”
Oliver turned to me, his expression serious. “I hacked the dock records for incoming container ships. One of them belongs to their organization.”
The weight of his words settled on my chest, heavy and suffocating. “When?”
“Two weeks from today,” he said, his fingers flying across the keyboard again. “I can’t guarantee it’s what we’re looking for, but my gut says it is.”
I let out a shaky breath, leaning back against the couch. “I think you’re right, Oliver.”
He glanced at me, his concern clear. “Maybe we should turn this one over to our contact.”
“No,” I said, my voice quieter now. “She can’t do anything without solid proof.”
He nodded, turning back to his screens. “I’ll keep digging.”
I didn’t argue, sinking deeper into the couch cushions. This was exactly what I needed, a distraction, a purpose. Something to pull my mind away from Spinner.
This was what my life was about—saving people who couldn’t save themselves.
And I wasn’t giving up.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
THE THUNDER OFbikes rolling out of the lotshould’ve drowned out everything else, but it didn’t touch the storm raging inside me.
Lucy was gone.
She hadn’t just slipped away, she’d vanished without a trace, without so much as a shadow left behind. I’d spent hours—too many fucking hours—combing through every lead, every possible route she could’ve taken.
Nothing.
I leaned against the rough wood of the clubhouse, letting it bite into my back like I fucking deserved it. My fists clenched at my sides as Devil walked up, his expression probing, his presence carrying the kind of weight that meant shit had just gotten real.
“You find anything?” he asked.
“No,” I admitted, my jaw tightening until it ached. “She’s smart. Too smart.”
Devil exhaled slowly, the kind of measured breath that meant he was already working through worst-case scenarios. “If she doesn’t want to be found, it’s gonna be damn hard to track her.”
“She’s used to runnin’.”
His brow lifted, gaze locking on me like a vice. “Hope you track her down. Lucy might’ve pissed me off more times than I can count, but the girl had grit, and a helluva head on her shoulders.”
I didn’t answer right away, the weight of my regret pressing down harder than ever. Lucy had warned me. She’d told me I’d regret it. And like a goddamn idiot, I hadn’t listened.