Chapter 17
BEX
Corbin and I went to Black Castle again late Saturday morning.
This time, I didn’t need his hand on my lower back to guide me to the conference room since I remembered the route, but I still liked having it there.
Especially because the muscle in my dad’s jaw jumped a little less each time he saw us.
Hopefully by the end of all this, he’d be on board with our relationship.
At least something good would’ve come out of it since he never would’ve allowed Corbin anywhere near me otherwise. Not that my dad could’ve actually stopped him, but I would have hated that the two men who meant the most to me were at odds with each other.
Today’s meeting was with my dad and a vetted analyst. When we sat down across from them, the analyst got straight to it.
“We need to tighten the picture on access. I’ve already gone over most of this with your father, but it would be helpful to confirm with another person familiar with a different perspective. Make sure nothing is missed.”
“I’m happy to help however I can,” I offered.
“Start with Nina,” he requested. “She was enrolled in Safe at Home. Where could her real address have existed outside the state program?”
“Not in routine county records,” I answered. “The substitute address is what most agencies would see.”
My dad’s eyes narrowed. “My department already had the real one. After Jeff violated the restraining order before, we made a formal law-enforcement request so assigned investigators and emergency personnel could locate Nina if he came after her again. The address was stored in a sealed confidential location addendum inside her restricted case file.”
Corbin’s gaze sharpened. “Which platform?”
“The records-management system,” Dad replied. “Only a small group had elevated access, and every time somebody opened that addendum, it should’ve created an audit entry.”
“Stowe’s contract covers that platform and its audit logs,” Corbin murmured. “A county insider could open the addendum. Somebody using Stowe’s credentials could erase the trace.”
“Or he hired a hacker.” I glanced at Corbin and then quickly looked away. “I can’t imagine the Safe at Home program would be a big challenge to someone with the right skills.”
“Government databases are breached constantly,” Corbin murmured, earning him a death stare from my dad that he barely noticed. “But I don’t think that’s what happened.”
Having no clue about the undercurrent between the other two men, the analyst asked, “So Safe at Home itself may never have been breached?”
“It probably wasn’t,” Corbin said. “The weak point was the confidential copy the county requested to protect her.”
I looked toward the frozen image of Pike. “And he went to the house to make sure the address was still current.”
The analyst’s brows pinched together before he queried, “But creating a believable response gap still takes local knowledge, right?”
“Yes.” I gave him a rundown of how units are assigned, how dispatchers choose which car to send when resources are thin, and what kind of call would actually pull the nearest deputy away.
The analyst nodded. “That lines up with what your father told me.”
Corbin’s phone vibrated against the table. He glanced at the screen and answered with a short, “Go.”
I couldn’t hear the other side of the conversation, but I spotted the subtle shift in his posture that most people would’ve missed. But I’d spent so much time with him that I suspected this wasn’t going to be good. And listening in to his half only confirmed it.
“When?” There was a brief pause, then he asked, “Direction?”
The answer from the caller was longer this time before Corbin instructed, “Keep eyes on him. Do not let him reach the turnoff.”
He ended the call and looked at my dad. “Pike just met a freelance surveillance installer at a gas station east of town. Handed him a small equipment case and sent him toward the backcountry access road that leads to my place.”
I pressed a trembling hand to my stomach as it knotted.
Dad’s expression hardened. “You’re sure?”
“Our men don’t make mistakes,” Corbin growled. “Especially not when it’s my woman at risk.”
My dad didn’t look happy about Corbin so easily staking a claim on me, but at least he didn’t push the issue since now wasn’t the right time. “You still have someone on Pike in case he pulls any other shit?”
Corbin glared at him. “Of course I fucking do.”
The analyst cleared his throat. “I think I have everything I need.”
My dad jerked his chin toward the door. “Go ahead. I’m going to hang back here with my daughter.”
After he left, we waited a few more minutes before Corbin’s phone rang again.
“What’ve you got, Nomad?”
The answer must’ve pleased him because his lips tipped up at the corners. “Proceed.”
When he set his cell back down, my dad asked, “What happened?”
“Now is probably a good time for you to leave, too,” Corbin suggested.
“Fucking hell.” My dad slammed his hands on the table and stood, pacing the length of the room several times.
I got up and walked over to give him a hug. “It’s okay, Dad. Corbin won’t let anything happen to me.”
He looked over my shoulder. “Promise me.”
“I fucking swear that nobody is going to so much as touch a hair on her head,” Corbin vowed in a lethal tone.
I tilted my head back to meet my dad’s eyes. “You need to be able to get on the stand and tell the truth. There are some things it’s better you don’t know.”
“Never thought I’d see the day when I was so damn grateful the Black Crowns follow their own set of rules.” He pressed a kiss to my forehead. “Just know that if I didn’t believe Cipher would keep you safe, I’d break whatever laws were needed to make sure you came out of this unscathed.”
“I know you would, Dad.” I hugged him again. “Love you.”
“I love you, too.”
He gave Corbin one last look before storming out of the conference room. I dropped back down on the seat next to Corbin and asked, “What didn’t you want to tell him?”
“Nomad followed the man to a public turnout overlooking the road leading toward the house. He was checking in with me before grabbing him.”
I was so glad this was one of the rare times when he could share information with me. “Do you think it’ll take long?”
“Nope, Nomad is damn good. He’ll have the guy soon.”
He was proved right when his phone rang again a few minutes later. This time, he put it on speaker since there was nobody else in the conference room anymore.
“He wasn’t on club-controlled land yet, but I caught him concealing a cellular trail camera and portable plate reader in the roadside brush. The equipment was aimed at the only approach to your property.”
Corbin reached for my hand. “If you hadn’t followed, they would’ve been able to identify which vehicles carried Bex, when she left, and whether she had protection with her.”
“Yup,” Nomad confirmed. “It gets worse, though. In the case he had on him, I found a fresh magnetic tracker, Bex’s vehicle description, her license plate number, and photographs of the roads between Raines’s house, the sheriff’s department, and your property.”
I knew I was safe, but this situation had just gotten a whole lot scarier. They hadn’t just been watching the road. They’d been building a plan to get to me.
When he finally looked at me, the man who had made me breakfast that morning was gone. What stared back at me was colder and far more dangerous—a Black Crowns enforcer.
“Nomad is taking him to a secure location.”
I swallowed. “You’re going to question him.”
“Yes.”
Whatever happened next with the man they’d just caught wasn’t going to be clean. Otherwise, they would’ve involved my dad.
Even though my stomach was in knots, I murmured, “Okay.”
Relief at my easy acceptance flashed in his eyes. “I’m taking you home first. Property gets locked down hard. Then I deal with this.”
He stood, and I put my hand in his. The controlled violence under his skin was impossible to miss, but it didn’t scare me.
I was quiet on the way home, gathering my courage to ask something I knew he’d hate. But I didn’t ask until he’d turned the place into a fortress and was headed for the front door. “Let me come with you.”
“No.” He shook his head. “Being with me doesn’t mean you watch when I need to do ugly shit.”
Although I wouldn’t see him any differently, I understood. And really, that wasn’t what I needed anyway. “I want to be there when it’s over.”
He reached up and cupped the side of my neck. “You will be. Right here when I come home to you.”
Dipping his head, he claimed my mouth in a deep kiss. When he pulled back, he murmured, “Stay inside. I’ll call when I’m on my way back.”
Then he was out the door, on his way to do whatever the Black Crowns version of justice required.
And I’d be right here waiting for him to come home.