Page 71 of The Vigilant

This time, it was her body that stilled.

“What happened to her?”

I pressed the cloth into the leather, watching the liquid ooze pink around my fingers.

“She disappeared. We had a falling out, and when I went to talk to her, she was gone.”

“And how does that mean the Wah Ching is involved?”

“And the guy she was seeing—the last person to see her the night she disappeared—he’s a Blue Lantern in the organization.”

She nodded with familiarity. “So, they tried to kill you because you’re looking for her?”

“No, I think they tried to kill me because I found out how she was taken.”

Robyn’s brow lifted, a sign of surprise and appreciation.

“I confronted the guy she was seeing, Jack Kang, and he confessed that he had her sign up for an exclusive cam site and someone on the site wanted more. He’d brought her to the White Pearl, and they took her.” I scrubbed harder at the leather. “He gave me a card for the site, so I signed up to try and find a lead, and this one user messaged me. He made a comment about the wasp tattoo”—likethe oneshe had—“and I realized he knew Mara, but before I could get more, Tynan…”

My fist closed around the cloth, sending liquid oozing through my fingers, and the subtle scent of detergent leaked into my nostrils.

“I think we got most of it.” A dry white towel landed in front of me. “We’ll dry and then put some cornstarch on it overnight.”

How many times do you clean blood out of leather before you have it down to a science?I wondered and went back to the sink to drain the cloth and wash my hands one final time.

“You know, I admired that wasp tattoo the first time I saw it.”

My head tipped.Was she talking about earlier?

“And the first time I saw it, I was told that if I thought the wasp was impressive, I should meet the girl with the scorpion tattoo.”

My muscles jerked like a hot whip had been snapped along my back. I lifted my head and faced her, unable—unsure if I could believe what I was hearing.

“You…” I shook my head. “You met Mara?”

Robyn wrung out her cloth and then grabbed a kitchen towel to wipe the last of the bloodied water from her hands.

“I more than met her, Sutton. She was working for me.”

Chapter Fifteen

Tynan

My chest felt like an inferno raged inside of it, the violent flames stoked stronger with every breath I took.

I tried to move—to ease the burning pain trapped in the hollow cage of my chest—but my left arm was frozen and my right arm, though more pliable, felt like there was a hundred-pound lead weight dangling from my wrist.

From all my limbs, really.

I’d never felt so heavy…so weak. Like I was pinned down by the weight of the ocean and trying to move. What happened—Sutton. The memory hit my brain with the force of a wrecking ball, the subsequent pain sending a long, strained groan from my lips.

“Don’t move.”

It was the voice, not the words, that made me stop. Her voice.

I pried my eyelids open, swearing I heard them creak under the effort. The room swiveled into focus slowly, like a carnival ride winding to a halt, and the familiar topography of my cabin settled into place.

We’d made it back.

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