Page 84 of Hero Unbound

Theo shook his head. “Not that she mentioned.”

Callum’s lips pinched together. “Look, without a restraining order, and unless she has pressed charges, there’s not a whole lot I can do. I’ll run him through the system and see if I can find anything.”

“I’ve already got Linc on it.”

Callum rolled his eyes. “Well, that’ll certainly be much quicker and more thorough, although I’m not sure how legal it is.”

Theo shrugged. “I’m not as concerned about legal right now as I am concerned about making sure Eva’s safe.”

Callum nodded, not pressing further despite his role as sheriff. Theo appreciated that about the older man. When push came to shove, Callum understood that sometimes the law and justice were not the same thing. Callum always sided with justice.

“Listen,” Callum said. “You should know that I already ran Eva through the system back when we were dealing with the break-in stuff. She’s clean. No arrest records.”

“Okay, that’s good to know.” Not that Theo was surprised.

“I’ll go ahead and officially run Metter also, not that I’m going to find anything that Lincoln doesn’t.”

Theo nodded. “Thanks, Callum. I’ll let you know whatever I find out.”

He started to get into his truck, but Callum stopped him with a hand on the door. “Theo, regardless of what has or has not happened, you can’t do what you did today. If we find out that Metter abused Eva and we can talk her into pressing charges, then we do that. But you don’t take things into your own hands.”

“You’re right. I know I lost my head.”

Callum raised an eyebrow. “That doesn’t happen to you very often. You’ve got your dad’s self-control.”

“Yeah, well, when it comes to Eva, sometimes I’m not thinking all the way straight.”

Callum grinned. “The only time I’ve ever seen your dad come close to losing control is when it comes to your mom. So I guess that apple doesn’t fall far from the tree either.”

Theo grunted. “I’ve got to get back to the Linear property. I don’t want to leave Eva there alone when I don’t know where Metter is.”

Callum stepped back so Theo could get in the truck. “You’re not alone in this. Neither is she. You two remember that.”

Theo gave him a brief nod, then closed the door and started the truck, Callum already walking away as he pulled out of the parking lot. He wanted to slam on the gas, but driving recklessly through his small town wasn’t going to do anything but put even more people in danger.Tucker would make sure Eva was safe until he got back home.

He was on the outskirts of town when his phone rang. Theo pressed the speaker to answer. “Talk to me, Linc.”

“Where are you?” Lincoln asked.

“I’m on my way back to Linear. What did you find?”

There was a brief pause. “I need you to pull over.”

“What the fuck, man? I’m in a hurry.”

“Pull over, and I’ll tell you. I want to make sure you understand this.”

Theo’s hand gripped the steering wheel hard, but he did as his friend asked. He wouldn’t ask at all if it weren’t important.

“Okay,” he said when he was on the side of the road, cleared from all traffic. Not that there was much on this road anyway. “What is it?”

“This was just a preliminary search, and I will continue to look, but you need to know that Gareth Metter looks pretty clean. Hell, not justprettyclean, like squeaky. Nothing.Dude is a highly respected doctor. Gives money to three separate orphanages in Asia each month, pays all his bills on time, and has never been in trouble with the law except for a couple of parking tickets.”

If possible, Theo’s grip on the steering wheel got tighter. “I don’t care if he looks like a goddamn Boy Scout on paper. He’s a gaslighting asshole, and I’m pretty sure he’s made Eva’s life hell.”

Lincoln let out a sigh. “Eva is where we run into a problem, bro.”

“What are you talking about?”

---