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An idea tuh Noelle’s mind Sex hter All the women she’d seen in those photos had been pretty Taken from their homes Held captive No ransom had been demanded They hadn’t been beaten Starved, yes, but that could have been because the skinny ones fetched a better price Who knew?

Maybe nothing had been done to theone to a single buyer rather than seeing to hundreds in a single day Slavery had to be a big business Skeevy, disgusting, and to the one doing the selling, worth killing over, as Devyn had said

They could be way off base, but … ht now they had no other leads

"I’ll put that detail on the Markses’ house, and I’ve got Margarete injected with our isotope tracker," Hector said, fingers flying over the keyboard on his phone, already texting Mia, she was sure Probably even checking Margarete’s location "While I was there, I noticed the walls were reinforced metal Those shields will keep any otherworlders fro inside"

"You still have contacts in the slaver world, Devyn?" Noelle asked

Hector propped his elbows on his knees, leaning toward Devyn, riveted He cared about the victims Truly cared, wanted justice

She liked that about hiot you the last three times

I’o, a proone in a puff of s todoor to door, then suddenly stopped I didn’t care enough to check up on hi AIR out, I killedfoot in that door to save our very own Eden Black"

Too bad Would haveup to some heavy shit We need to keep any connection between Marks, Margarete, and the slave , but because we don’t want anyone going after our Rakan Of course, that’s moot if the killer is the slaver He already knows she’s there"

"And the detail will catch hirab her" So, in a way, she was like bait

They spent the next half hour tossing around other ideas, but nothing else stuck or felt even partially right Not even the info Noelle kept to herself--for the ain, he’d have to fly blind

Soon conversation began to lag Then, of course, aard silence reigned, no one wanting to look in her direction She was extra, unwanted baggage Whatever I don’t care

Noelle wasn’t letting Hector out of her sight For the case, of course

"You better answer this, genius, or I’ll kick your ass!" Ava’s voice suddenly belted out

"Ava’s here?" Devyn frowned, searching the roon of her

"You explain it to hi the rooainst her ear "Trenant" A flat statee Noelle was surprised her mother hadn’t already combusted "With an otherworlder’s child, at that An otherworlder who is also a football player person"

Football player person was said with the sanant cancer Herhuman elitist on this planet or any other "Mother, how many times do I have to tell you? You can’t believe what you read"

A hopeful pause "You’re not pregnant?" What her h escaped her "I do have a bun in the oven, yes" And it had been glazed with honey and sugar, butter melted over the top "I’m just not sure who the father is And, to be honest, I’ with three of the other candidates, so can we save this conversation for after the paternity test?"

Another pause, this one heavy, crackling again "You don’t knoho the father is? That’s disgusting and idiotic, Noelle, even for you How dare you e ho are you? Is it too late to--"

"Thanks, Mom," she said cheerily "Knew you’d understand" Click

Okay, that had felt good

All three htened

"That was an interesting one-sided conversation," Hector said, a glea away a few of the shadows that constantly seeive you a play-by-play" You don’t deserve it

"You better answer this, genius, or I’ll kick your ass!"

Another call? Groaning, she flashed her er in a bid for one sec of silence Then she placed the phone to her ear and tuned everyone out "Trenant?" Jaxon demanded without preamble

"Of course not," she said with a roll of her eyes

"Who’s the--oh What?"

"We just needed the press to keep their rabid hunger for a story away froht off the bat Like her irl, yet he’d spent the past year hovering over her shoulder

Well, you still feed that ih it Why couldn’t anyone else?

And I’ toward him "Just don’t tell ht" Jaxon’s chuckle slithered over the line "You want me to throw fuel on the fire? Maybe have Corban come in?"

"Actually, tell my brothers that Corban refused to marry me, and that they should really let hi That’ll keep the vultures happy for quite a while Oh, and they should let Corban have it in person rather than on the phone so he’ll forever understand how he’s wronged the Tre her nuo"

"Don’t worry I’ll take care of your brothers"

Click

Tune-in Dallas opened his

One sec Tune-out "Tremain," she said into the mouthpiece Maybe Jaxon wasn’t such a bad cousin, after all

"What’s this bullshit about Corban Blue being the father of your fake baby?" Ava demanded

See? Ava hadn’t needed to be told Ava just knew

"I thought you were lusting after Hector Dean," her friend went on "And don’t try to deny it, because I noticed the way you eye-raped hi Why didn’t you pick him?"

"Oh my God, I have missed you and your slappable htly They’d seen each other just yesterday, texted constantly, but still "And to answer your question, hardly He doesn’t deserve me"