Page 29 of Shattered

She waited for some laughter, but none came. Everyone looked serious.

“I can guess where this is going.” Georgia rolled her eyes.

“Experience or not, this is my club and therefore my rules,” she said, trying to sound reasonable.

“To be fair, you’re aco-owner,” Becca pointed out from her window on the monitor. “With all of us—although Abby is somewhere in Asia.”

“Abby’salwayssomewhere in Asia,” Claire agreed.

“Fine, co-owner,” Hartley corrected, feeling the tension in the room. “So if any of you ladies, aside from Claire, wants to be paired up to hunt for Lucas, I’ll support that. Like I expect you to support my inclusion in the search party.”

“Then handle the direction of the search,” Montgomery said, sounding frustrated. “With Claire.”

“Yes, we can both work out of Topkapi,” Claire suggested. “Like a team.”

“When does Hartley ever work as a team?” Georgia noted, then slapped a hand over her mouth. “Sorry. But…we’re being honest here, right?”

Hartley let out a quiet breath, then responded in a tone she hoped concealed her hurt. “How about when I invited all of you on this ride? I thought we were a team in this.”

“We are,” Becca said resolutely. “C’mon, ladies. We need to stick together.”

“I support Hartley, but going out on the search seems unnecessarily dangerous,” Claire added, looking conflicted.

“Claire’s right,” Montgomery said. “We’re trying to flush out a killer. It isn’t a game.”

Hartley looked from face to face and took a deep breath. They were right, but she wasn’t about to back down. “I know I don’t have the experience you do. And I don’t think this is a game. Not at all. But… I staked my reputation on making this place a success. I made a promise to these women.” She gestured to Becca, Georgia, and Claire. “I don’t expect to take the lead or do more than cover someone else. I’ll do whatever you tell me I need to do, except stay here. I’m going with one of the groups to find Lucas, to confront him face to face, even if it’s from a distance. I’m not backing down on that.”

As the room fell silent, she could sense mixed reactions. Spencer fidgeted in his chair, Eli remained stoic, and the women displayed varying degrees of sympathy and resignation.

“You can’t just tag along on something like this,” Spencer finally burst out. “It’s too dangerous, especially if Lucas fights instead of runs.”

“I can hang back and stay out of the way, but I want to see with my own eyes the person who’s been causing all the trouble,” she insisted.

“Youthinkyou can stay out of the way,” Spencer retorted. “But you don’t know how you’ll react in the moment. The rest of us already know that, and you’d be a wild card distracting us.”

“If you’re distracted by me, maybeyou’renot the best one to be out there,” she retorted, stubbornness stiffening her back. She was nervous, but she refused to be afraid. She could handle whatever Lucas would do, even if that meant just ducking to get out of the way.

“Lady, you have no idea—” Spencer started, pushing his hand at her as if shooing a fly.

She snapped. “Don’t you brush me off—” she yelled.

“—how to deal with dangerous men—” he continued in a raised voice.

“—like I’m some annoying insect!”

“Stop it,” Montgomery thundered beside her. Spencer’s words continued until Montgomery slammed his hands on the table.

Hartley bit her lip. She could see it from their point of view. The danger of the last months had definitely amped up, but if she didn’t do this, she’d be admitting the biggest gamble she’d ever taken was a failure. And aside from her broken marriage, for which Montgomery was mostly to blame, she’d never failed atanything.

She steeled herself as Montgomery drew in a breath. If he was her next battle, so be it.

“She can come with me,” he said gruffly.

“You’re notserious?” Spencer moaned.

“Don’t do me any favors,” she muttered to Montgomery when she could finally speak. But inside, she felt a mix of swirling emotions she couldn’t name.

“Youshould know I don’t do favors,” he countered, returning his attention to the map on the screen. “Let’s figure out who’s in whose group and our best guesses about where Lucas will run.”

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