Page 103 of The Vigilant

I stilled, the conversation crossing beyond the bounds of forgiveness. My hand flexed and released at my side.

“Maybe,” I conceded and then met his eyes. “But do I deserve it with my best friend’s daughter?”

For better or worse, Harm didn’t have the opportunity to answer because Rob burst through the door, her hair in disarray and her face flushed.

“Do you know how to answer a phone?”

“Shit,” I cursed and reached in my pocket, finding it empty. Scowling, I felt along the couch cushions, finding my phone buried between the seat and the back. No wonder I hadn’t heard it.

On the screen were two missed calls from Creed.

My head snapped to her. “What happened?”

“He’ll be here in two. We have a location on Mara.”

Air whooshed from my lungs. The relief I felt was indescribable, knowing what this would mean to Sutton. And then I thought about what it would mean for me.

“Does Sutton?—”

“She just got out of the shower. She’s going to meet us in the office.”

I gritted my teeth and nodded. Sharing the shower bit wasn’t exactly necessary. Not when I continued to relive what happened the last time I was in that shower.

Rob disappeared, probably to pace my office until Creed got here, and left Harm and me alone again. I tried to follow her, but Harm stepped in my path, clearly not deterred by the interruption nor willing to let it stop him from making his point.

Maybe later, I’d be grateful for his stubbornness rather than the annoyance I felt now.

“In my experience, you deserve only what you’re willing to fight for,” he said, his arms banding over his chest. “Whether it’s your enemy’s daughter…or your best friend’s.”

I stiffened, feeling a sharp pain in my gut followed by something like hollowness. I didn’t respond because I couldn’t explain what I felt—what I thought. Something happened in the moment of silence that passed. Something I couldn’t fully process as I stood there with him. Something that remained indescribable as he let me pass and I walked to the office, andstill when Rob asked if I was all right and then when Creed arrived.

Only when Sutton appeared in the doorway, her wet hair braided in a rope down her back, her tattoos on wild display underneath her cropped black tank, and her dark stare locked to mine did I realize what happened minutes earlier.

The change I’d felt wasn’t hollowness but the start of healing. A subconscious decision made in a split second to fight for her rather than my own guilt, and how could I fight for her when my only weapon was buried in the thick of my chest?

The change I’d felt was that sword finally being pulled free.

“You know where Mara is?” Sutton spoke first, a knot of irrational jealousy tightening my gut when her eyes were only on Creed.

Because he was the one with answers,I forced myself to remember.

Creed’s lip twitched. “I think so.” He pulled out his phone, the cell looking almost like a toy in his palm. “Carson is slick. Careful. He hasn’t been back to the White Pearl since he met with Kang in the alley, and I was almost to the point where I didn’t think there was any information I’d get from following his movements until this.”

He flipped his phone around, everyone crowding to see except me. I went to my computer and opened up a few settings.

“You can share it on the big screen, Creed,” I told him.

He made a low noise, and then the image appeared. It was a black, tinted luxury sedan parked out front of an apartment building. The license plate matched the one on the car Kang had gotten into with Carson after Sutton attacked him. There was an older Asian man in a suit talking through the cracked back window to the person in the car.Carson.

“Who is that man?” Sutton stepped closer to the screen.

Creed flipped to a second photo: a close-up of the man outside the car. Just above the collar of his jacket peeked out a tattoo reading432.

“Shit,” Sutton swore.

“What does that mean?” I rumbled.

“Four-three-two is the number that signifies the Straw Sandal, or the liaison between the top players in the Wah Ching and to outside…associates,” Rob explained. “The building is also owned by the same corporation that owns the White Pearl.”

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