Page 64 of Fierce Hope
The line went dead. Deke exhaled and turned back to the team, who watched him like spectators awaiting a verdict.
“Well?” Jade asked, hugging her arms to her chest.
“He’s mad, but he’ll handle the storage facility,” Deke replied succinctly. “No chance of us getting a foot in. Forensics only.”
Kenji, always the comedian, folded his arms in mock sternness. “At least we’re not in handcuffs for withholding evidence. So … small victories?”
Yeah. Really small. “What now?”
Ronan took a seat behind one of the monitors and tapped at the keyboard, pulling up local traffic cam feeds. “We should reconstruct Wycoff’s last hours,” he said, throwing Jade a sympathetic glance. “If we find anything, maybe Frazer owes us one.”
Deke shot Jade a look. The news had shaken her. Badly. Of course, it would.
She looked drained—more than anyone should after mere days of stress. In the past week, she’d gone from dealing with routine accounting tasks to blackmail, homicide, and the looming threat of organized crime.
When her eyes met his, he read the silent plea for stability. And now, after her confession, he realized just how important that stability was to her.
The only remedy he knew was action.
“We’re not done yet,” he said gently, stepping closer. “The police might crack open that storage unit soon, but we’ll keep looking for clues. No harm in more eyes on the data, right?”
She nodded, swallowing hard. “Thanks. I … I hate waiting. Feels like the longer it goes, the worse it’ll get.”
“I hear that.” He rested a firm hand on her shoulder, then gave a meaningful glance to the team. “But there might be a silver lining.”
Ronan arched a brow. “You mean Wycoff’s death?”
Deke nodded. “Like Maya said. He was clearly fleeing with a chunk of money—money he must’ve been laundering. That’s likely what the storage unit was for: safe stashing of large amounts of cash. If he was the mastermind behind Jade’s threats, she might actually be safe now.”
“But what if he had partners?” Jade asked. “Or what if he was working for someone else?”
Maya nodded. “He most likely was. Laundering ops move huge amounts of currency. Wycoff might be wealthy, but to have enough cash on hand to risk using a storage unit means a big-time operation. If he was laundering money, there’s no way it was a one-man situation. But without him, the bigger fish won’t bother going after Jade. It’s risky and unnecessary. They silenced Wycoff. Her investigation ends here.”
Axel released a slow breath, relief edging his features. “So she’ll be off their radar.”
“That makes sense,” Deke confirmed, turning to Jade. “Wycoff was worried you’d figure out his scheme. That’s why he or an accomplice tried to scare you off. Now that he’s gone, the danger to you died with him.”
Jade’s posture shifted, a trace of hope in her eyes for the first time that day. “That ... that’s good news.” She looked around the room. “But he was still murdered.”
Silence settled over them, acknowledging the gravity of the situation. Finally, Deke inclined his head. “We should say a prayer for his soul, no matter what he did.”
All heads bowed briefly, Jade’s included. Deke murmured a soft prayer for the man who had caused so much turmoil—and whose violent end had stunned them all. When they straightened, the air felt a little clearer, although the sadness lingered.
Jade let out a shaky breath. “So maybe ... maybe I’m safe.”
“Looks like,” Deke said, though he knew neither of them would feel truly at ease until the evidence confirmed it. “We’ll keep investigating, and confirm Gillian Wycoff’s story at the very least, but for now, my guess is no one’s got any more reason to target you.”
Maya stood behind Ronan, hands on his shoulders as she studied the monitors in front of him. “First thing we need to do is confirm that Gillian Wycoff wasn’t involved in either her husband’s death, or whatever scheme he was involved in. She’d be one person I could see who would still find Jade a threat. But that should be easy to clear up.”
A hollow ache settled behind his ribs. The need to protect her was rapidly evaporating. And he sensed that any deeper involvement—personally—would only mean more complications for them both. It wasn’t her past that stood between them, though she’d never believe him if he admitted it.
It was him. DJ, partly, sure. But mostly, just him. He couldn’t be Knight Tactical agent, a dad and a true partner. Not the kind of all-in partner Jade deserved. Not now. Maybe not ever.
But for the first time in … forever … it sure was tempting to try.
He reached out, giving her shoulder another gentle squeeze. The contact only sharpened the awareness that once this ended—once she no longer needed protection—he had no place in her world.
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