Chapter 26 JACE
JACE
The shrill of a phone ringing cuts through the beautiful dream I’m having of Tessa in a white dress, walking down an aisle toward me. The sleeping beauty in my arms groans in her sleep, burying her face deeper into my chest.
“Shut it off,” she grumbles.
I blindly reach for the phone on the nightstand, my eyes blinking repeatedly to make out the name on the screen. “It’s Sienna.”
At the mention of her best friend, she sits up straight and picks up the call. “Si, it’s five a.m. What’s up?”
“Did I wake you? Sorry, this couldn’t wait.”
Tessa sits more alert now. “Talk to me.”
They are loud enough for me to hear both ends of the call.
“I think I’ve got something. I back-traced the hack on my phone. Whoever’s been monitoring us slipped up—the packet bounced through an unsecured node in Nevada. I followed it back.”
My girl’s hand shakes on her phone, so I sit in and hold her close. “And?”
“There’s a trail. It’s partial though. IPs routed through layers of proxy, but one of them ties back to a company that doesn’t officially exist. Name’s Alveon Global Logistics. But get this—it’s a shell. Registered to a man named Richard Kane.”
My jaw tightens at the name. Tessa looks up at me, eyes wide but burning with focus.
“That fucker,” I curse, unable to hold it in.
Sienna continues, “I don’t have a confirmed location yet. But he’s using a private satellite link that’s been pinging off the same grid coordinates all week. Somewhere rural, close to the border. I’m working on narrowing it down.”
“How close can you get?” Tessa asks.
“Close enough,” Sienna says. “Give me another hour. If he’s moving, I’ll know it.”
Tessa nods. “Okay. Keep me updated.”
When the call ends, the silence rushes back in—heavy, thick, electric. She exhales, rubbing her temples. “He’s not even trying to hide anymore.”
I reach for her hand. “Then he’s getting sloppy. Which means we’ve got the upper hand.”
Her lips twitch, the ghost of a smile that never quite forms. “You make it sound easy.”
“It’s not,” I say quietly, kissing her temple. “But you’re not facing him alone anymore. We’ll find him.”
There is no going back to sleep after this, so we get out of bed, get dressed, and shift to my office, where we can work better.
The hunt has begun.
In my office, Tessa and I work side by side, but I’m mostly support while she types away, her laptop screen casting a blue glow across her face, eyes sharp, focused, unblinking. I’ve seen that look before—the same one I used to wear on deployment right before a mission went sideways.
The office smells like coffee and determination. A mix of the battle we are currently fighting.
When I promised Tessa that she’s not alone, I meant every word. I will protect her with every fiber of my being so that she doesn’t have to run anymore.
An hour later, Sienna calls back, her voice filtering through the speaker.
“I’m sending you a data packet now. It’s a dump from an encrypted drive linked to Richard’s shell company.
Be careful, it’s dirty. He’s been laundering money through small business fronts, some of them registered under fake charities. ”
Tessa mutters, “Of course he has,” as her fingers fly across the keyboard. “What kind of numbers are we talking about?”
“Millions,” Sienna says. “And that’s just the surface. I think he’s got offshore accounts that connect to some government contracts. Defense-grade stuff. The kind you don’t touch unless you’ve got protection.”
I cross my arms, leaning against my chair. “Sounds like a man with too many secrets and not enough sense to cover them all.”
Tessa glances at me, the faintest spark of a grin in her eyes. “You almost sound impressed.”
“I’m not,” I tell her. “Just taking notes for when I break his face.”
Sienna snorts through the line. “That’s one way to shut him down.”
The air hums with tension as files open—PDFs, spreadsheets, communication logs. It’s a mess of names, numbers, and coded messages, but Tessa works through it like it’s instinct. Her brain runs faster than I can follow, and I’ve seen combat planning that looked less complex.
She pauses, frowning. “Jace, look at this.”
I move behind her, my hand brushing her shoulder as I lean in. She points to an email thread, dated just a week ago.
RK: “Everything must proceed as planned. She’s gone silent, but I’ll find her. She doesn’t get to walk away.”
I feel the heat rise in my chest. “I’m going to kill him.”
She swallows hard, her voice steady but low. “He’s obsessed. He thinks I’m the one who ruined him, when all I did was expose what he was already doing.”
“You did the right thing,” I say, my tone firm enough that she looks up at me. “Don’t let him make you doubt that.”
Sienna chimes in again. “Hold up. I’ve got another lead. The IP that’s been pinging from that satellite feed? It’s moving. Southwest, about thirty miles from the last trace.”
Tessa straightens. “He’s on the move.”
“Which means he knows someone’s onto him,” I mutter. “He’s running.”
Sienna sighs. “We’re close. I’m still narrowing it down, but I might need some extra hands. Tessa, you and your man know anyone we can trust to help out?”
“You’re all I got, Si.” Then she turns to face me. “Babe?”
“I know just the guy,” I say, reaching for my phone.
“Who?”
“My brother,” I say simply. “Ryder.”
“Wait, there is another Morgan?” Tessa gapes, shocked.
“Yes, he lives off the grid, prefers it that way,” I explain as I scroll through my contacts until I hit a name I haven’t touched in over a year. Ry.
The Morgan who said fuck it all and retreated to his own corner of the world.
I hit call, and it rings twice before a gravelly voice answers, low and unreadable. “Now ain’t this a surprise. Hello, big brother.”
“Ryder,” I say, glancing out at Tessa, who’s still looking at me questioningly. “Desperate times call for desperate measures. I wouldn’t be calling unless I needed you.”
“Say the word,” he answers fast, no questions asked.
Inasmuch as Ryder likes his privacy, he is always here when we need him.
“What’s going on?”
“I need a trace on someone. Fast. His name is Richard Kane. Former employer of my woman. He’s dangerous, connected, and on the run. We’ve been tracking him, but he’s moving off the grid. Thought you might be able to help.”
Ryder exhales through his nose, the sound dry and thoughtful. “Why do you all keep coming to me with woman problems? First it was Zane, then Beck, and now you? Did Cupid hit the ranch or something?”
“Ry.”
“Sorry, just in shock at how much I’m missing.”
“Maybe it’s time to come home then.”
“Maybe. We’ll see. Wait, did you say Kane… I’ve heard that name before.”
I frown. “In what context?”
“Doesn’t matter,” he says. “Send me what you’ve got. I’ll find him.”
It’s not arrogance. It’s certainty. Ryder doesn’t promise—he delivers.
“Thank you.”
“I’ll call when I have a location.”
The line clicks off before I can answer. Typical Ryder.
When I turn around, Tessa’s gaping at me. “That was him?”
“Yeah,” I say, pocketing my phone. “He lives in the mountains, disconnected from the world. We all suspect he’s involved in some shady shit, but we can’t prove it. But if there’s one thing Ryder’s good at, it’s finding people who don’t want to be found.”
She leans closer, voice soft but steady. “You trust him?”
“With my life,” I answer without hesitation. Then, after a beat, I add, “And now with yours.”
Her throat works as she swallows, but she doesn’t look away. “Then I trust him too.”
I brush a strand of hair off her face, my fingers lingering just a second too long. “Don’t worry. We’ll get him.”
“I know,” she murmurs, leaning in to kiss me softly.
“Guys, I’m still here,” Sienna calls out, interrupting us.
Tessa and I pull apart, laughing to ourselves. “Sorry,” Tessa giggles, hanging up on her before finding my lips once more.
Last night, she was not the only one who opened up. I did too, and now we are closer than ever. So I’d like to put this Richard bastard six feet under so we can move on with our lives already.
Ryder calls back within the hour.
“Got him,” he declares, no preamble.
“Where?”
“Private property forty miles out, past the county line. He’s there packing to leave, chartered a helicopter to fly him to an airfield later tonight, headed to Mexico. You’ve got to move now. I’m already on my way; you’re going to need backup.” Then the line goes dead.
A second later, he sends me the coordinates. I get one good look at the map, then hit the group chat to brief Zane and Beck of what Ryder and I are planning.
Zane’s reply is immediate: What time are we leaving?
Beck’s is next: I’m ready when you are.
They don’t ask why. They don’t need to. That’s what brothers do.
“Looks like we are going to war,” Tessa whispers.
The words land like a fist. One shot. No second chances.
“And this time we are ending it,” I assert.