Page 25 of Bound

Gregory’s voice is quiet. “The warehouse and the Village connect. Significantly.”

The words move through the room like smoke.

Carlos at the center of all of it.

Lucian looks at Isobel. His voice is as biting as the wind that’s beating the house. “Start with Marina.”

Isobel inhales shakily. “Marina kept proof. Photographs. Birth certificates. Death records. Payment chains. Warehouse rosters. Old access routes. Police reports. Bribes. Blackmail. If Carlos touched it, she wanted proof. If Lucian touched it, Carlos wanted proof.”

Lucian’s jaw tightens. “Where and how did she keep files?”

“One paper, one digital. I don’t know where she kept either.”

“Helpful,” Blaze snorts.

Isobel’s hand rises to her throat. “And, I think Carlos may have had a tracker on her.”

The necklace. The pretty gold necklace with the black stone. The one Rafe took from her after finding the dead tracker hidden inside.

“I didn’t know about the tracker,” Isobel says quickly.

I think for a moment. “Could the necklace have been anything else?”

“What do you mean?” Lucian turns to me.

I turn to Isobel. “What do you think?”

She shakes her head. “I don’t know. I didn’t even know it wasn’t just a pendant to begin with.”

“Did you take the entire thing apart?” I ask Rafe.

“We stopped at the tracker.” Rafe thinks for a moment. “There could have been more? Possibly?”

“Worth a look.” Gregory stands to retrieve the necklace.

Rafe opens the pendant under a magnifier. Inside, hidden behind the black stone, is not a chip.

Blaze swears. Bayne takes his first-ever seat at the table. Isobel goes white as the ghost she is.

“It is microfilm,” Gregory breathes.

Blaze stares at it. “Oh, come on. You’re telling me she didn’t know this was here?”

Everyone but Lucian looks at Isobel. She shakes her head. She looks tired.

Her voice is a sad whisper. “Is it Marina’s? She’s the one who gave it to me.”

“Only one way to find out. Scan it,” Lucian says.

Rafe scans it. Images load on the main screen. Pages and pages of documents. A list of names. Payments. Warehouse rosters.

Isobel gasps. “This is hers. It’s hers. Why hide it in the necklace?”

Blaze scoffs. “See? She knows what’s in there. It could take days to get through this. I’m telling you we⁠—”

“I’m only here two more days, Blaze, but if you mention interrogating a woman again,” Bayne swears under his breath. “I’ll still have time to wring your neck.”

“She’s an enemy⁠—”