4 4
D E X
MY EYES ACHED, and I tipped my glasses up to rub them.
Reaching for the tiny bottle next to my computer, I deposited a few drops of solution into each eye. It did nothing.
I knew why. I’d slept for maybe two hours last night and was running on Lightning Energy drinks and Kit Kat bars.
But I was making progress. I might’ve hit a dead end when it came to Nova, but I hadn’t with Vincent. I’d found a handful of things that said he had secrets.
Old Vinny boy hadn’t been very smart. He thought his last name and billions would protect him, but it wouldn’t. And I’d found endless bookings with an escort service that catered to darker desires. And there was something about his latest business dealings that had me wondering if they were completely legal.
But I needed more time. There wasn’t enough yet to get Vincent to back off—or better yet, send him to prison.
Because Brae deserved to breathe easy and not have this asshole breathing down her neck.
But I’d seen the rich and powerful slip through the system before. And I wasn’t about to let Vincent do that. To be assured of his destruction, I needed more. Unfortunately, he was hiding that proof somewhere. I just needed to locate it.
Cracking my neck, I glanced out the window and stiffened.
Brae’s SUV was back. I checked the clock on my computer
screen and cursed. It was already five. I couldn’t sworn it had been noon just a second ago.
I shoved my chair back and swiped up my phone. It only took me a matter of seconds to reach Brae’s cabin. She’d given me the extra key, but I still knocked. I didn’t want to scare her, and I sure as hell didn’t want to risk her pepper- spray wrath.
Voices sounded inside, along with a happy bark from Yeti.
The dog had gone from hating me to loving me a little too much. My neck hurt because she’d taken to lying on my head during the night, and the nearly one-hundred-fifty-pound dog was not good for my spinal health.
The door swung open, and Owen grinned up at me through the glasses I’d superglued. “We saw you on the
camera app, so I got to open the door.”
“Pretty damn cool. Have you—?”
My words were cut off by the massive furry beast that slammed into me. Her paws went around my neck as she attacked me in some sort of hug, peppering slobbery kisses all over my face.
“Help,” I choked out. “I’m being attacked.”
Owen burst out laughing. “Mom! Yeti’s strangling Dex.”
Footsteps sounded as I struggled to get free of the dog.
Instead, I got a mouthful of fur.
“Yeti, down,” Brae commanded.
The dog hesitated for a single moment and then leapt off me, all four paws landing on the floor.
My face screwed up as I picked dog hair out of my mouth.
“What the hell was that?”
Brae struggled not to laugh. “I told you. I think she has a
crush on you.”
I scowled. “She’s not my type.”
Brae lost hold of her laughter then. She crouched down to rub Yeti. “It’s okay, girl. I’ve been there.”
“Maybe we need to get her a friend,” Owen suggested hopefully. “We could get her a puppy.”
Brae pushed to her feet, shaking her head. “There is no time or space for a new puppy in this house.”
“Aw, man,” Owen complained.
I ruffled his hair. “You can always go hang out at the ranch. There are a bazillion animals there.”
Owen considered that. “I do like those alpacas. They spit.”
Brae pinched the bridge of her nose. “Boys.”
“The spitting’s cool, bruh,” I said, fighting laughter.
“Yeah, bro,” Owen echoed.
“Well, how do you feel about a trip to see the spitting alpacas now?” Brae suggested.
“Let’s go,” Owen said, bouncing on the balls of his feet.
I studied her for a moment. “Any reason you want to go?”
She shifted for a moment. “I made something for Orion.”
Oh shit.
I scrubbed a hand over my jaw. “Orion doesn’t do well with gifts or gratitude.”
“Too bad,” Brae clipped. “I’m giving him both anyway.”
I grinned. My hellion had a take-no-shit fire, and I
absolutely loved it. “All right, then.”
“Really?” she asked hopefully.
“Really.” My grin widened. “We just have to make sure we avoid the bear traps and exploding dye balloons.”
Brae’s jaw went slack. “I’m sorry, did you say bear traps?”
“I wanna see a bear trap,” Owen cut in. “I bet that could snap your leg in two. Totally boss.”
Well, she couldn’t say I hadn’t warned her.
BRAE CRADLED the tin of cookies to her chest as I navigated my SUV toward Orion’s house. We’d dropped Owen with Kol and Sky, so he could go see the spitting alpacas, but he made
us promise to tell him if one of the bear traps took off someone’s leg.
Brae’s fingers drummed over the tin in a rapid,
nonsensical beat.
“What kind did you make him?” I asked.
The corners of Brae’s mouth tipped up. “I don’t know him as well, so it was harder. But I did maps. A few bottles of hot sauce. Legal scales. And a no-trespassing sign.”
I barked out a laugh at the last one. “Oh, the irony.”
“I thought it was appropriate.”
My gaze flicked over to her before returning to the ranch road. “He hasn’t done anything like this in…I don’t even know how long. It’s the first time he’s come out of his protective shell in his own way.”
Brae gripped the tin tighter, her tapping halting. “I’ll never be able to repay him. To thank him. Maren is already filing paperwork to make the restraining order permanent and working on making my sole custody official.”
My tongue stuck to the roof of my mouth as I struggled to swallow. “Sometimes the giving, the act of kindness, is reward enough for the giver. Sometimes, it’s the miracle. It gives you purpose. Helps you keep fighting.”
Brae looked at me as I pulled up to the fence and stopped.
“You sound like you know from experience.”
I wanted to tell her. To give her that one other piece of me—the one I didn’t share with anyone. “You aren’t the first person we’ve helped with a missing persons case.”
Surprise lit in those golden eyes but then understanding.
“Who else?”
“About a dozen across the country. Started with a case I had at the FBI. Someone who didn’t fit the profile the BAU was building. Their eighteen-year-old daughter went missing, but it wasn’t because of the killer the FBI was tracking. Her family wasn’t going to get answers. She would have fallen
through the cracks.”
“So you helped,” Brae surmised.
“I told my brothers about the case. It was in Idaho, not that far away. We all started adding our take on the case.
Kol, the terrain and paths she could’ve taken from the college campus where she disappeared. Orion, building the map with all the points we had flagged for the case. Wylder, creating a sort of profile but for the victim, not the perpetrator. And Mav helped with Kol’s tracking, filling in the missing pieces on her medical records and made Orion’s map into a geographical profile.”
I let out a breath, realizing I’d been holding it through the tumble of truth. “It just worked. We all had something to
bring to the table.”
“Did you find her?” Brae asked softly.
“We did.” Sorrow swept through me at the reminder.
“There was a guy she was seeing. Older. Not on a great path. They got into a fight. He got violent. She hit her head at just the right angle for death to be instant. He panicked and buried her in a forest behind his fraternity house.”
Pain swirled in Brae’s eyes. “So young. So much life ahead
of her.”
“Tragic on every level.”
Those golden eyes found mine. “But you gave her family, friends, and everyone who loved her closure. That’s a gift.
Even if they didn’t get a happy ending. There are no more questions. They can start to heal.”
I knew Brae wanted that for herself. Worried she wouldn’t get her own happy ending. And with as much time as had passed, closure and giving Nova peace were likely the best Brae could hope for.
I slid my fingers through hers. “It helped me to give that closure to them.”
Brae studied me, putting the pieces together like she always did. “Because of your father?”
Shifting in my seat, I turned to face her. She was like the sun, warmth and hope and acceptance. I didn’t want to hide from that as I spoke my truth; I wanted to bask in it. And it
was then that I realized I didn’t fear telling her. I didn’t worry she’d suddenly turn off that light. I knew she’d meet me in the darkness.
“My father stole these women’s lives—stole them from all the people who loved them. He left their families and friends with endless questions for years, wondering if the worst had happened. Maybe because it was the same with my mom, I kept thinking about being stuck in the in-between. Not knowing whether to hope or to lay to rest.”
“It’s purgatory,” Brae whispered, understanding the way so few could.
“Exactly.” The word was a pained rasp. “I wanted to end their purgatory. And it helped, giving someone closure. I
wanted to do it again.”
“So you found another case.”
I nodded. “I found another case. And that led us to a different one. We just kept at it. Now, we have a website where people can submit information to get our help. We can’t help everyone, but we try. We just do it anonymously.”
Brae frowned. “Why anonymously?”
My lips twisted in a mix of grimace and grin. “You don’t think the media would have a field day if they found out the sons of Edmond Archer, the most prolific serial killer of the past two decades, ran some sort of vigilante missing persons group? They’d twist it like they twist everything. And all
those eyes would be on us.”
“But—”
I didn’t let her get the sentiment out, whatever her argument would be. “We skirt what’s legal, Brae. If anyone finds out, Kol could lose his job. I could get arrested. And I don’t have a safety net from the bureau now.”
Understanding swept over her expression, and her fingers squeezed mine. “Thank you. For telling me. It’s safe with me.
I promise.”
A little of the tension bled out of me. “I know it is.” And for the first time since my world had been turned upside
down, I realized I trusted someone who wasn’t one of my brothers or Waylon. I’d given Brae all the ammunition she needed to end me. And she simply held it close like it was a treasure instead of a weapon.
“It’s why your brothers didn’t want to help me at first—
because I know who you are.”
Brae didn’t miss a trick.
I grinned at her. “They’re helping now, aren’t they?”
Brae laughed softly. “They are. And I need to thank the one it cost the most.”
I loved that she got that, too. That Orion carried the heaviest weight of all of us. That reaching out for him cost more. But he was doing it anyway.
Three words danced in my brain as I stared back at Brae.
Three words that had the power to change everything. But I swallowed them down. Because they scared the hell out of me, and I knew they’d send Brae running for the hills.
“Let’s try to avoid some bear traps, okay?” I said instead.
She grinned back at me. “Don’t lose a foot.”
“I’ll do my best.”
We climbed out of the SUV, and I took in my brother’s house—the one he’d built with the help of Waylon, Blaze, and the rest of their small crew. He’d slowly added on over the years, but he’d done it in a way that was seamless.
It had rough wood so dark it toed the line between brown and black. Weather had aged it in a way that gave the house character but also carried a rough warning. A porch wrapped around the entire house, and I knew it was where Orion spent most of his evenings.
The house itself was on one of the farthest edges of our property, right on the border of our ranch and the land that belonged to Aster’s grandfather. Out here, only animals and trees surrounded Orion. Just how he liked it.
“It’s beautiful,” Brae breathed as she took in the structure. “And those horses.”
“That’s Aster’s grandfather’s ranch,” I explained.
“They’re beautiful. Peaceful.”
“That’s why he likes it out here.”
“I would, too,” Brae said wistfully.
A flash of an image sparked in my mind. A house set on a meadow not far from here. Owen and Yeti running around a yard. Brae and I on a porch swing. It felt so real I could taste it. And then it was gone again. But I already knew I’d be telling the architect to add a porch swing to our designs.
I cleared my throat. “Come on.”
Brae glanced up at the sudden roughness in my voice but didn’t say a word. Instead, she followed me up the path. I pointed out little booby traps along the way. A trip wire that would have a sound grenade detonating. A hole in the walkway covered by false stones. And a bear trap covered by shrubs just beneath the porch in case someone tried to scale it.
Each revelation had Brae’s eyes growing wider. “You
weren’t kidding.”
“No, I was not.”
Brae swallowed hard as we reached the porch steps.
“Can I leave these on the porch, or will something explode in my face?”
“As long as you avoid the third stair, you’re good.”
“This place is a lawsuit waiting to happen,” she muttered as she deposited the tin on the top step.
Just as she did, the front door swung open and a hulking figure filled the space. Orion glowered at both of us, but Brae wasn’t deterred. She beamed up at him. “I made you thank-you cookies. You’re a little hard to bake for, but I did my best.”
Orion stayed silent but eyed the cookies, and I swore there was the slightest twitch to his lips.
“Thank you for sending me Maren. She’s amazing. She’s already filing paperwork or motions or whatever the legal jargon is. Thank you.”
The scowl was back on Orion’s face. He turned to me, signing.“I’m working on Nova’s map.”
“How’s it going?” I asked, then turned to Brae. “He’s working on the case map for Nova.”
Orion’s hands began to move again, and I spoke his signs aloud so Brae could understand. “I’ve mapped out as many possible routes as I can think of. Does Brae remember hearing anything? A vehicle, a horse?”
Brae worried the corner of her lip as she clasped her hands in front of her, shaking her head. “I don’t think so. But that day…it’s fuzzy now. Like I’ve thought about it so much, I’ve worn out the memory.”
Orion frowned, his gaze dropping to the floorboards in front of him. I could almost see his thoughts whirling as if running through endless possibilities in his mind. He looked up again, his hands moving.
“What about vehicles in the parking lot when you arrived?” I translated.
“There were three. A beige SUV with Nevada plates. A green Subaru. And a silver pickup. I don’t remember plates on the other two, so they were probably California, but I can’t be sure. I’ve played those moments over and over in my head, but that’s all I can remember.” Frustration laced Brae’s tone as if she were kicking herself for what she couldn’t see.
Orion’s hands moved again, and I gave voice to his words.
“Anything out of place on the trail? Anything at all?”
Brae bit her lip harder and shook her head. “It’s fuzzy. I don’t—I can’t see it all.”
I wrapped an arm around her and pulled her to my side.
“Hey, it’s not your fault. It’s trauma. More may come with time.” My lips brushed over her temple.
Orion tracked my movements with his gaze, locking on the signs of affection, and I swore there was a hint of longing in his eyes. But whatever the flicker of emotion was, he covered it quickly.“She should talk to Aster.”
“Not a bad idea,” I said.
“What?” Brae asked, looking up at me.
“Aster. She might have an idea for how to recover more accurate memories.”
Brae straightened against me. “Anything. I’ll do anything.”
And that scared me most of all. Because if Brae got reckless, whoever this monster was could take advantage.
And they could do anything.
