Page 78 of Never Bet Against A Hockey Player

“Dhara, no.” He looked genuinely horrified. “You know what she’ll do to you if she finds out.”

“She’s not going to find out.”

“What if she has cameras or something?” I had considered that, but sometimes the reward outweighed the risk.

“Then I’ll take the beating, Gavin. All that matters is that we find a way out of here.”

“Fine, but I’m helping.” I could have argued but for once just nodded. Knowing how my mother operated, I doubted she had any sort of camera installed back here.

He followed me down the short hallway toward our mother’s bedroom. Her room was twice the size of mine and included a walk-in closet.

Besides the bed, she had a long dresser and a single nightstand.

“Why don’t you start in the closet?” I suggested. “I’ll check the dresser.”

He nodded once before disappearing into the closet.

I wished I had gloves as I carefully searched beneath stacks of clothes. She wasn’t tidy and it was going to take time to find anything real.

Receipts.

Travel tickets.

An old photograph of a man I didn’t recognize.

Nothing useful.

I moved to the nightstand. My fingers traced beneath the drawer first, checking to see if anything had been taped underneath. When that came back empty, I pulled it open and nearly slammed it shut again.

A bright pink vibrator sat beside an oversized box of condoms. I looked away on instinct but something tucked underneath had me looking back.

A set of leather-bound books. Trying not to vomit, I pulled the first one free and flipped it open. It was full of my mother’s twisted rants. I couldn’t stomach reading it and closed it, switching to the second. This one wasn’t a journal. It was a ledger. My eyes widened as I scanned the pages.

“Gav,” I called quietly. “I found something.”

He stepped out of the closet clutching a small lockbox. His eyes were wide with excitement.

“Me too.”

Chapter

Twenty-Two

Lachlan

The three of us walked into the diner the next morning with no more hope than we’d had before. We knew our omega wouldn’t be here. But this had become our routine. Our way of keeping in touch despite her mother’s efforts.

Lydia always managed to give us little updates about Dhara. Tiny scraps of information that meant more to us than she could ever understand.

This morning, the moment she spotted us, she frantically waved us toward the employee-only hallway.

For the first time in weeks, hope filled me. This had to mean she knows something.

Maybe they found something that could finally bring our girl home?

God, I hoped so.

“I know you guys are building a case against that woman,” Lydia said as she pulled a thick manila envelope from one of the office desks. “Apparently, her mom’s been watching a little too closely and now has help, so it took Dhara a few days to get this to me. I think you should look through it. I’ll give you a minute.”