Zeke’s POV
“Tell me what you found.”
Jax sat across from me, a thick folder resting between us on the polished mahogany desk. The city glowed behind me, its lights stretching far beyond the penthouse windows, but my focus was locked on him.
He hesitated.
That alone told me I wasn’t going to like what he had to say.
“Jax,” I said, my voice colder now.
He exhaled sharply before flipping open the folder. “She’s been running, Zeke. For years.”
I leaned forward, scanning the documents spread across the desk. Newspaper clippings. Fake IDs. Employment records that didn’t match up. A life pieced together with the kind of desperation that only came from one thing—fear.
I already knew Lena had secrets. But this?
This was something else.
“She changed her name three times,” Jax continued. “Lena Mercer was the most recent one, but before that, she was Emily Carter. Before that, she was Ana Price.” He tapped the papers. “And she didn’t just move to different parts of the city—she crossed state lines. California, Texas, Boston, and finally back here.”
I clenched my jaw. “What was she running from?”
Jax flipped to another page. A security footage still—grainy, but unmistakable. A black car, windows tinted, parked outside the diner Lena worked at.
“She’s being watched.” His tone was grim. “And it’s not just you who’s been looking for her.”
My stomach tightened. I stared at the photo, my fingers curling into a fist. Someone else had been tracking her.
Not for a good reason.
I should’ve seen it earlier—the way she had tensed when I asked about Ravenshade Manor, the way she had recoiled at the mention of her past.
She wasn’t just hiding. She was hunted. I exhaled through my nose, pushing the folder aside.
“Find out who’s hunting her.”
Jax hesitated. “You sure you wanna get involved?”
I looked at Lena’s picture—the one Jax had pulled from a surveillance camera outside the diner.
Her dark hair was pulled back, exhaustion evident in her expression. And then there was the scar. The one that stretched across her cheek, a permanent reminder of the night that tied us together.
I had no choice.
“I’m already involved.”
Jax nodded, tucking the papers back into the folder. “I’ll keep digging.”
I barely heard him.
My thoughts were already moving ahead, my grip tightening around my phone as I stood from my chair.
I needed answers. And I needed them now.
I dialed Lena’s number. The moment she picked up, I didn’t waste time. “Lena, we need to talk. Now.”