Chapter 20
Chapter Twenty
Ares
“Does that mean they sold me?” Her words echoed in my mind over and over again, like a haunting melody that wouldn’t get out of my head.
Her parents were involved. Parents who had walked right into ARC like they had any right to. The ones who had been on the news telling people how sad they were about what happened to their daughter.
Yet, they were likely at fault for putting her there.
Caspian, Kane, Ansel, and Rydell all crowded around our mate, offering comfort. The chief’s jaw was tight when I walked back in. I could see the questions blazing in his eyes and couldn’t ignore it. I took the page from the folder and slid it across the table.
“These are her parents,” I relayed to him and Ledger, who had stayed behind to keep the peace. I could tell from the hard cut to his jaw he was straining to stay right where he was.
The Chief’s eyes widened as he looked at the page, pulling it closer.
Ledger leaned in and frowned. “These are the ones that came to visit,” he confirmed. “I remember seeing them that day.”
“Chief—” I started, but he already held up a hand, pulling out his phone, snapping a picture, and then calling someone.
“Sanchez, she’s not through the folder yet, but the last page of the dossier, the pack?
Those assholes are her parents. I’m sending you a screenshot of them so we’re on the same page, but I need you to do a deep dive.
We clearly don’t have their full dossier.
I need the names they used with ARC and I want bank records, birth certificate for Audrey, hospital records… everything you can find me.”
He listened quietly for a moment before looking up at me. “Do you have anything to add?”
I took the phone from him, closing my eyes as I addressed the man I knew would find us answers. “I need you to figure out if they’re actually her parents.”
“On it, Ares. I’ll pause my other searches for this. It shouldn’t take me long. They aren’t exactly being discreet with their faces all over the news and walking right in here like they had any right to.”
So, he’d seen the broadcasts, too. Knew Audrey’s past and her parents’ involvement. Good. It would make this search more meaningful.
We said a quick goodbye before I handed the chief his phone back. Dinner was forgotten. Nobody had even taken a bite yet, the plates sat untouched. It was just something to keep our hands busy.
This wasn’t exactly a meal-time conversation.
The rest of our pack came in, Kane and Caspian supporting Audrey as they helped her back into her chair. The chief kept the paper with her parents’ faces turned facedown in front of him, so she didn’t have to see them again.
“You don’t have to keep going,” he told her.
Her smile was sad as she looked up at him. “If only that were true, David.”
Audrey was strong. So fucking strong. This wasn't something anyone should have to face again, especially after just getting her back after her second time in a place like that.
She flipped through the next several pages while everyone barely made a sound. Hell, we barely breathed.
“Was the facility you were taken to this time the same as before?” the chief asked against the silence.
Audrey shook her head, glancing up at him. Her mismatched eyes were shadowed now, but her mind was sharp. She wasn’t letting this take her down.
“No. I remember distinctly when they took me to that ditch the first time. They thought I was as good as dead, but I opened my eyes as they were carrying me out. I saw a glowing neon sign and for some reason that stood out to me. I couldn’t seem to let it go until they were long gone.”
“What was on it?” Ansel asked.
She tilted her head, letting out a humorless laugh. “Roller skates.”
The chief tapped at his phone quickly, sending a message to Sanchez’s team.
“The neon sign was closer to the ditch, or where they carried you out?” I asked. We had to be specific to find this place.
“The ditch was in the middle of nowhere. I just saw the sign and it stuck with me until I had to crawl my way out of that ditch,” she clarified before glancing back at the paper.
“The middle portion might be a bit dry. It’s mostly suspected business facades, connections, and accounts. A lot of technical mumbo-jumbo. You can skip that part if you’d like,” the chief offered.
Audrey did, skim-reading and flipping pages until she reached one full of pictures.
Women, men, omegas, betas, all looking like wraiths.
Each and every one of the women was in that same dirty white dress. The men white boxers only. You could see the dark shadows and sunken features, bones sticking out of sunken malnourished skin.
Blinking rapidly to clear her fresh tears, my omega studied every single face.
There were no names, only numbers. Likely to protect their identities.
Her finger traced the features of a girl with dark hair and bruises under her eyes, her lip bleeding, and pure venom in the glare she sent at whoever took the photo.
“She’s dead,” Audrey whispered. “Her name was Sam. She was there when I arrived, and she never stopped fighting. She got a few other girls to fight back, trying to take over the guards so we could escape. They caught her. The guards tortured her in front of us, in every imaginable way. She never stopped fighting until her last breath. I can still hear those screams.”
I could feel the echoes of her pain through the bond, and my own eyes burned in response.
“Sometimes I ask myself if I should’ve fought harder. That maybe I could’ve saved her.”
“No,” the chief said firmly. “You couldn’t have.
She was a fighter and went out like a true hero.
But they would’ve killed every one of you who acted the same way.
You survived, and now you’re on the other side.
You’ll show your strength by fighting them beside us.
People who are trained to take an operation of this caliber down. ”
She studied him, not looking away as their gazes locked. He was treating her like a daughter now, making sure she understood that she hadn’t shown weakness, she survived. I think she needed to hear it from someone other than us.
“If you weren’t here now, we wouldn’t know who was involved. You’ve given us more than you realize already. Sanchez has new leads to follow and we’re going to look into this sign and your parents. I’m sure the names they used with this group weren’t real.”
“No,” she admitted softly. “The names were unfamiliar, but I know those faces.”
“We’ll figure out the answers you need,” he promised. “And we’ll talk to Sam’s family. Let them know how strong she was.”
Audrey’s eyes drifted closed, sending a fresh wave of tears down her cheeks. When she opened them, they were glassy but clear enough to see the page. She continued studying each and every face meticulously, not skipping a single one.
I was so damn proud of her. She wasn’t just facing her fears and her trauma, she was doing her best to save lives.
Audrey named a few more of the victims, and when she reached the list of male omegas, she named even more.
Our girl was more observant than she gave herself credit for. Just seeing a picture was enough to bring about new memories and names. It was hard on her and we’d have to be extra gentle with her tonight.
When she turned to the final page, it was the one with the chief’s daughter. She was the one they had the most information on. He’d given them a whole profile of her own with every detail he could.
Audrey’s eyes lit up, and she glanced at the chief, her voice frantic.
“Is this your daughter?”
“Yes,” he confirmed. “Do you recognize her?”
“She was there at the old facility. They didn’t keep her like the rest of us.
She was known as the caretaker. We weren’t allowed to know her name, but she fed us sometimes, dealt with us when the guards didn’t want to.
She always whispered encouragement and advice, and made sure a lot of us didn’t give up hope. ”
“That sounds like her,” the chief choked out.
“Her last words to me were to keep fighting, to not let them win. She said the most important weapon we have…”
“Are our emotions,” he finished for her, taking a steadying breath and trying not to break. I’d never seen the chief show emotion like this before. Right now he was just a man finding out his baby girl might still be alive out there somewhere.
“We have to find those rollerskates,” Kane said. “Do we have computers or anything we can use to help? I’m dying here not being able to do something productive.”
“The other team is working on it,” the chief argued, but my pack wasn’t having it.
“I have a computer,” I said, leaving the room and heading for my things. I pulled my laptop and phone from my duffel bag and came back.
“How far did you travel to get to ARC?” I asked.
Audrey shrugged. “I have no idea. They dragged me here, and I wasn’t even coherent. I was hallucinating a pack.”
“Good point,” Kane said. “That makes it a little more difficult.”
“Well, let’s narrow it down,” Ledger sighed, looking at Audrey. “Was it a city or a small town?”
“City, then I think small town? she asked more than answered.
“Wait,” I said, her mention of the small town reminding me of the news reports. “The incident that led to you being on the news with that pack, it was in Rockwood Valley, right? Let’s search the nearest cities from there.”
“That does narrow it down,” I said, relieved to finally have somewhere to start. “At this rate, we could check a three-day-walk radius. Skating rinks aren’t exactly huge anymore, but they still exist in nearly every major city.”
Audrey stood up and started pacing as I searched. I could feel her frustration and eagerness through the bond as she likely racked her brain for any other clues.
“Wouldn’t my court record say where I was found?”
“Yes,” the chief said. “But it was farmland originally, out in the middle of nowhere. What you saw was likely on the way there.”
Of course, he had the records memorized. If my pack was surprised, they didn’t show it. Me, I knew how invested he was in this.
“They wouldn’t have dumped her close by anyway,” Ledger said. “It’s smarter to travel at least a couple hours, then maybe a few more in the opposite direction to be seen somewhere else for an alibi. People like that cover their bases. They’re smart.”
I listened to the conversation, but most of my focus stayed on the computer, seeing if I could get any hits for the single clue we had. When I didn’t find any within fifty miles of Rockwood Valley, I expanded the radius.
“Wait,I might’ve found it,” Ledger said with a whoop.
I looked up, confused and shocked to see him with a phone in hand. “Where did you get that?”
He shrugged, unrepentant. “Lifted it off the guard outside.”
I glanced at the chief, but he wasn’t the least bit concerned. He and Audrey were both leaning over to see what he’d found.
Chief glanced up at me and shrugged. “Guard should have been watching better.”
“That’s it!” Audrey exclaimed, slapping Ledger’s shoulder excitedly. “Zoom in on the street view. Is there a vet or a pet store or something? I swear I remember paw prints, too, now that I’m looking at it!”
Ledger tilted the phone sideways, zooming in and out as they studied the buildings around it.
“There,” she said. “Three stores down.”
Ledger grinned. “You’re right, Wilding. There’s a pet groomer right on the corner.”
“What’s the name of either one?” I asked, wanting to see it for myself.
“The groomer’s called Groom and Grind. They do coffee in the café next door and grooming there. Their sign shows a coffee cup and paw prints.”
Ledger’s description let me pull it up easily. I zoomed out to view the town as a whole, scanning the streets.
“Sunset Heights,” I said, studying the pictures, trying to figure out where they could be holding an operation this big.
“What does the Omega Network have in that town?” Kane asked.
Ledger answered, already moving to the next search while I continued studying the city.
“They have one just down the street,” he said a few moments later.
“Looking at the reviews, people seem happy. No red flags and no one reported missing. No nearby facilities outside of their heat clinic that’s attached, and, apparently, that’s really strict.
There’s a message board complaining about how all of these alphas couldn’t make the cut. ”
“Maybe ARC was a one-off,” Audrey said, though she didn’t sound convinced, more like she wished it were true.
“There are bad people everywhere,” Rydell said. “This may have just been a case of the board of this facility being corrupt. It was created to hide away rich people’s shame, right? That would make sense. A nationwide name but privately funded to ensure that it was a whole different ball game.”
“You do have a point,” the chief said. “The moment money gets involved, corruption starts to bubble under the surface. Eventually, it puts down roots.”
“Would it help for me to go to Sunset Heights?” Audrey asked.
“No,” the chief said immediately, along with me and Caspian. Ledger wasn’t as convinced. He cared about our girl but he was also practical. Right now, he was thankfully outvoted.
Audrey huffed out a laugh. “I know you guys don’t want me in danger, but what if I can help find it?”
“You did,” the chief reassured her. “I’ve got a team out that way. I’m sending them to search the area. You weren’t far from this, so it helps narrow it down to a manageable range.”
“Fine,” my omega relented, “but I’m here to answer any questions or help in any way I can.”
The difference between the girl shaking in her seat when she started that folder and the girl now was staggering. She was ready to fight for the women and men still in captivity. Audrey had a good heart. It was one of the reasons I loved her.
“When it comes time for those interviews with the Omega Network, just know I’ll be using every bit of this, everything you’ve done, to fight your case. I know Ares already promised to get you out of there, but he’s not doing it alone.”
“Thank you, David,” she whispered.
He shared a look with me, and I nodded my thanks before he stood, said his goodbyes, and left me alone with my pack.
Despite the darkness of this meeting, I wanted us to enjoy our final night together before we had to pretend like we belonged in a place like ARC.
The Omega Network could ask all the questions they wanted, but at the end of the day, I wasn’t letting my pack stay inside those walls any longer than necessary.
They had two weeks. Two fucking weeks, before I pulled rank and every string I had to get us on the other side.