Chapter 26
Chapter Twenty-Six
Simon called just before dusk, that soft time of night where the light glows like honey and everybody looks like they’re smiling, even if they aren’t. I was on the couch with Chloe, her legs tucked beneath her, a sketchpad she’d found in the closet balanced on her knees.
The moment I saw Simon’s name, my chest tightened.
I didn’t even ask. I put the phone on speaker.
“Zarek,” Simon said, clipped and focused. “You and Chloe together?”
“Yes,” I answered. “She’s right here.”
“Good. Jase is with Zoe. He’s got the information we were waiting for.”
There was a faint shift of sound on the line, then Jase Drakos came on. No humor in his voice. No teasing. Just business.
“They’ve got everything they need.”
Chloe’s pencil slipped from her fingers, rolled across the sketchpad, and hit the carpet with a soft thud.
“Everything?” I asked.
“Photos of Zoe,” Jase said. “Clear. Multiple angles and locations.”
I felt Chloe stiffen beside me.
“Grocery store,” Jase continued. “Parking lot. Getting out of her car at the art supply shop. Clear face shots. License plate visible. And—”
He paused.
“And inside the apartment.”
Chloe’s face froze.
I leaned forward, forearms braced on my thighs. “Say that again.”
“Inside,” Jase repeated calmly. “Living room. Desk area. You can see Chloe’s drawings. Enough that there’s no doubt it’s her place.”
My blood went cold.
“How in the fuck,” I said slowly, “does anyone get close enough to take photos inside a fourth-floor apartment unless they’re already in there?”
“Drone twenty feet from the window,” Jase replied.
Chloe made a small sound, barely more than a breath.
“There’s a communal greenspace behind the building,” Jase went on. “Kids play there. Dog walkers. People cutting through. A guy flying a drone doesn’t stand out. Looks like a hobbyist. He didn’t hover—just quick passes. In and out.”
I turned to Chloe.
Her arms were crossed tight, hands gripping each elbow like she was holding herself together by force alone. Her eyes were fixed somewhere past the wall, unfocused.
“My blinds were open,” she whispered. “I always leave them open. The southern exposure is best for drawing.”
The guilt hit hard and fast, like a knee to the gut.
I slid my arm around her shoulders and pulled her against me. She came to me instantly, folding into my side, her head resting against my chest like she needed to feel something solid.
“This isn’t on you,” I said quietly. “Not even a little bit.”
She nodded once, but didn’t speak.
“Zoe’s fine,” Jase added. “She only noticed their guy at the grocery store. She said she never clocked us.”
“How do you know what was on their film from the drone?” Chloe asked.
“They had to download it. It was easy enough for Code to grab.”
Chloe looked at me for confirmation. I just shrugged. I didn’t know how these guys did things like that anymore than she did.
“And now?” Chloe asked softly.
There was a brief silence on the line.
“Now,” Simon said, “we wait for Maurice to call Zarek. Remember, we’re monitoring your phone. Any relevant calls that come in. we’ll be listening.”
“I’m hoping it’s not Maurice, because we’ve tracked him as far as we can,” Code said. “It be nice to get fresh blood.”
My mouth soured. I wished he hadn’t used that phrase.
“Okay, now you know what we do,” Simon said, ending the call. “Now we wait.”
The clock on the wall ticked loudly. I stared at my phone like it might light up if I just stared at it hard enough.
It did.
Eight o’clock on the dot.
Maurice.
I swiped and put it on speaker for Chloe’s benefit.
“Post,” Maurice said smoothly. “You got a minute?”
Chloe went very still.
“What’s up,” I said, keeping my voice even.
“There’s a fight,” he said.
I felt Chloe’s breath hitch.
“When?” I asked.
“Tomorrow,” he said. “You need to be at a pickup point in Knoxville by four p.m. I’ll text you the address. You won’t drive yourself to the venue—transport’s arranged.”
Classic.
“And the purse?” I asked.
He chuckled. “Straight to business. I like that.”
He named a number.
Even knowing it was coming, it made my stomach flip.
“That’s… a lot,” I said carefully.
“I’m moving you up to the big leagues,” Maurice replied. “You do well, you can play again. Doesn’t that amount of money sound nice a second time?”
“Yeah.”
And here I thought the first envelope I’d received had held a shit-ton of cash.
“Be ready,” he said. “Comfortable clothes. No phone. We’ll handle the rest.”
“Wait a minute, why no phone?”
“That’s the rules. For this much cash, you didn’t think everything was going to go your way, did you?”
“But—"
The line went dead.
For a long moment, none of us spoke.
Then Simon exhaled. “Them picking you up so early is a problem,” Roan said. “The fight probably starts about nine. The cities that are four or five hours from Knoxville are endless.”
Chloe looked up at me, her eyes steady despite the fear I knew was there. “They’re coming for you. Through me.”
I tightened my arm around her. “They already tried.”
“And it worked,” she said quietly. “At least enough.”
Simon’s voice cut back in. “We’ve got what we need. Now we plan.”
I looked down at Chloe, felt her warmth, the weight of her trust.
“Okay,” I said. “Let’s plan.”
And deep in my chest, beneath the fear and the anger and the need to protect what was mine, something settled into place.
They thought they had leverage.
What they didn’t know was that they’d just invited me all the way inside their operation.
And this time, I wasn’t walking in blind.