Page 70 of Healing Souls

When my legs can’t keep up my normal pace anymore, I know it’s time to stop, so I start heading back towards the main building, making sure Bear is following me so I can have him stay up at the house again now that things are a bit calmer.

As we come out of the woods and head through the yard towards the back patio, I spot Harley sitting on the steps. Her long red curls are wet running down her back, and she’s wearing a plain hoodie with leggings and is barefoot.

She runs her toes through the grass, watching her feet, but as she hears us approaching, she glances up.

Her eyes lock on mine for a second but then immediately jump to Bear and light up. Before I have a chance to warn her to leave Bear alone until he decides to approach because he only allows interactions on his terms, the fucker struts right up to Harley and plops down in front of her, rolling over and offering her his belly.

I stand there frozen as Harley lets out an adorable fucking giggle and slides down the steps to sit in the grass in front of Bear to begin giving him pets.

“What’s his name?” she asks, grinning up at me. Her grin drops as she examines my face. “Cayden?”

Shaking my head I snap, “Bear. Come.” I avoid looking at her as I walk past her with Bear right behind me. I don’t want to see how I might be hurting her. It will crack my walls more than I want them to.

That and seeing her now, there is this pressure on my chest—guilt. For even looking at Steph.

We head to the corner of the porch where there is a leash attached. It stretches out so he can wander through a small portion of the woods, the yard, and all of the porch. It just keeps him from going off into the woods all night long.

Attaching the leash to Bear’s collar, I tell him I will bring his dinner out and head inside to grab it from the kitchen.

My mind is still whirling with how the fuck Harley can show back up here and attach herself to the three things that mean the most to me. This club. My brothers. And now my dog. She has somehow wiggled her way in and is making everyone, even grumpy ass Bear, fall in love with her.

And maybe even you—no.No, I won’t let my mind go there. I can’t.

I slam the pantry door and bring Bear his dinner before heading back inside to go upstairs and shower, making sure to not look and see if Harley is still outside. As I get to the bottom of the stairs Ryker and Grayson come down them.

“Nice timing. Rage wants to talk to us,” Grayson says.

Ryker, surprisingly, says nothing, so I just turn and follow them to Rage’s office where all the ranking officers, Axe, Stone, Rage, Nerds, Noah, and Sugar are waiting.

“What's going on?” Ryker asks as we come in and shut the door.

“Did you guys get a chance to talk to Lex today?” Noah asks.

“No, we didn’t get a chance to since we had to get caught up from the few days we missed. We’ll get it done this week, though,” Grayson says.

Rage nods. “Nerds has some information to share.” He gestures towards Nerds.

“Alright, but before anyone asks, I have nothing new on Daniel. He’s hiding, but if he even steps one foot outside, I will know right where he is. And as far as I can tell, he hasn’t left town.” He sighs. “Now onto what I found. I have been digging into Tammy and all the names I’ve been finding that are connected to the offshore accounts and trying to piece together a timeline to figure out a location that might be common among them, and I think I found something.”

He stands from the chair he was sitting in across from Rage’s desk, placing his laptop on the desk he turns it so everyone can see. The screen is completely black, but in gold letters it saysBlack Nightacross it.

“What is this?” Axe asks, furrowing his brows. He has the same confused look the rest of us do.

“This, I am assuming, is how they make most of their money.” He clicks on the letter B and the screen changes. It now displays a large gold and black mask as the header and a form below that you fill out. “When you come onto the website as a normal viewer, it looks like some kind of elite club. You have to fill out the form and then receive a formal invitation with more details. They change the location every time the event happens, which seems to be every six months.”

“How do you know this is related to the sex trafficking?” Rage asks, leaning forward in his seat.

“I tracked everyone I could find that was connected to or has been paid from the accounts, and many of them were at these random places almost every six months. So I looked into what could be happening because sometimes it would be at a warehouse and sometimes it’s at a hotel. They get it completely blocked off, and according to one hotel I called, they said it's an elite ball that happens—completely private and by invite only.

“Because it’s all so secret and private, the host pays extra for all normal working staff to be gone so they run it themselves. The event never ends up at the same location, and I have tracked it back at least ten years so far. The other thing is, Tammy has been to every single one.”

“You were able to track her?” Rage asks.

Nerds nods. “Yeah. I have her on security cameras walking into some of the places, but otherwise she’s always in the area when they’re happening.”

“So what do we do now? When is the next one occurring?” Noah says, twirling a switchblade in his hand.

“They just had one a month ago, so if the timing is correct, then in five months.”

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