Page 32 of The Vigilant

I folded my arms. “Well, rumor has it, Kang is involved with the Wah Ching.”

Sutton rolled her eyes. “He’s not with the gang. He just wants to be.”

“How do you know that?”

Her back straightened against the wall. “Because Mara told me he was a Blue Lantern—like being uninitiated in the Wah Ching gang made it any better. I told her she was a fucking idiot for dating him and to get out before she couldn’t.”

I grunted, unsure if that one was a lie or not.

“Are you satisfied now?”

My gaze whipped to hers. Satisfied. I wasn’t sure satisfied would ever be something I’d feel in Sutton’s presence. Not unless some serious fucking boundaries were crossed.

“No.”

All this, and she still wouldn’t trust me with the whole truth. But she had given me some of it, and maybe that would be enough for now.

Enough to get her to trust me with more.

“No?” She rose from the ground, folding her arms over her as she came up to me. “Planning on reporting all this to Daws then?”

I winced. After all this, she still was more prepared to believe I’d rather be rid of her than the truth.

“Fuck no,” I rasped and inched closer, watching her pulse thrum against the side of her neck. “I’m going to help you find Mara.”

Her eyes grew wide as I approached her. “What?” she gasped. “How?”

“Come with me.”

“What is this place?”

I hesitated, wondering if I should’ve thought a little longer before bringing her to my office.

Her expression didn’t alter as she scanned the high-tech space, but I knew better than to think she wasn’t taking it all in…and wondering.

“Security for the garage.”

Her pierced brow lifted. The first and only crack in her facade. “Seems a little excessive.”

Clenching my jaw, I tapped on the keyboard to wake my computer up.

“We work on a lot of expensive bikes.”

Sutton offered me a flat stare and a slightly tipped mouth in reply.

I cleared the white lie from my throat; I wasn’t the one who had to answer for my secrets.

“I need all the information you have on Mara.”

Her full lips tightened, and I could see her rolling the answers around on her tongue, tasting them first to make sure they wouldn’t betray whatever it was she was hiding before she finally put her voice to them.

“Her name is Mara Chen.” She stepped in front of my desk, my computer screens blocking everything right up to the level of her tits. Her pierced nipples taunted me above the edge.

For the next couple of minutes, she rattled off details about her best friend. Her birthday. The address of her apartment in the city. Phone number. Most of the information, I was able to pull instantly from her license as soon as I ran her name and date of birth, but I didn’t say anything.

Mara seemed to be the one thing she was comfortable talking about, and I just wanted Sutton at ease, even if it was only for a few minutes.

“So now what? You call the police and try to get a different response?” She folded her arms and turned away, giving me a close-up of the scorpion on her back.

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