Page 61 of Hunted Hearts
Denver made a noise in his throat.
“You got something?” Theo circled the table to lean over the computer. He quickly skimmed the report while Denver read it aloud.
“Dahl told the cops that he was warned by his attackers that if Juliette didn’t back out of all future benefit concerts for the charity—especially overseas—next time, it wouldn’t only be a warning.” He looked up at Carson. “They’re scared. Her next concert could blow the lid off everything.”
Theo glared at the police report, his voice dark. “They’re trying to break her resolve. But they don’t know Juliette. And they sure as hell don’t know me.”
“When are you going to tell her?” Carson asked him.
He pushed off the table, spine snapping with resolve. “Not tonight. First thing in the morning. She was happy at the party…and I don’t want to ruin her evening.”
Denver issued an amused grunt. “Sounds like something any of us would say about our significant others.”
Theo strode to the door and stopped. “All of the women deserve a good evening. Reconvene here in the morning and we’ll figure out the plan.”
* * * * *
“This charity isn’t small.” Colt scanned a printout of a bank statement. “These aren’t just one-off cases of illegal transactionseither. This operation is big—huge. Numbers like these? We’re talking tens ofmillionsa year.”
Theo pushed off the table, jaw locking. He already knew all this. He’d spent the better part of the night combing through what little they had, piecing together threads he wished he’d never seen.
“It’s worse than that.” His voice was hard. “This isn’t just about adoptions. These kids are beingsoldon the black market. The charity is pulling strings to make it look clean—calling it ‘cutting red tape’ or ‘streamlining international contracts.’ They’re not helping orphans. They’re selling them for profit.”
A grim silence swept through the room. Oaks leaned forward, his hands tightening on the edge of the table. “Wasn’t the whole point of this place to take kids out of war zones, keep ’em safe until they found families again?”
Theo nodded once, short and decisive. “That’s how it started—as a humanitarian effort, all aboveboard. But somewhere along the line, greed took over. Now those same channels are being used to pull kids out under the guise of ‘safety,’ only to funnel them to buyers.”
Denver’s gaze narrowed. “Where were you when you first heard about this?”
Theo looked up, meeting his brother’s stare. He had the damn note memorized, every word etched into his brain, even though he’d turned it over to the right hands four months ago.
“At the embassy in Istanbul.”
Carson rocked back in his chair, making the frame creak.
“The note was slipped under my drink. I didn’t have a name or any face. Later, we checked the camera footage, but no one saw where the note came from.”
“What did it say?” Carson asked.
“It was a warning and coordinates. Mention of a ‘shipment’ of children. I knew it smelled bad, so I flagged it and passed it up the chain.”
Denver’s brows drew together. “You were in Turkey four months ago?”
Theo gave a single nod. “Yeah, a brief stop before coming back stateside. Why?”
“I was there around the same time,” Denver said slowly. “On the opposite end of the country, but I remember hearing chatter about an NGO moving a large group of kids out of Syria through Romania. I didn’t think much of it at the time. Assumed it was legit.”
Theo’s fingers curled into the edge of the table. “Romania. That’s where Juliette’s charity’s orphanage is located.”
Gray’s nostrils flared with what they all knew to be barely controlled fury. They all froze, waiting to see how he’d react. As teens, he’d hit the roof and keep on spinning out.
But time had calmed him down, and he only exhaled a curse, dragging a hand through his hair. “Son of a bitch. That’s not a coincidence.”
Theo’s stomach tightened as he brought up another document on the screen for the whole security team to see. “The orphanage was bought by a shell corporation two years ago. On paper, nothing changed—same staff, same building, same mission. But the timing lines up with when those transfers started. That’s probably when the trafficking began.”
Oaks muttered something, the kind of dark oath Theo had heard only in combat zones.
Theo pressed a fist to his lips. He wished like hell what he was about to say was untrue, but it came out in a low growl.
