Page 144 of Convict's Game

I shook my head. I couldn’t be affronted on Convict’s behalf. Not when this was the only way we had to find him. “Then what’s the plan? Please tell me we aren’t going to wait until dark.”

An engine purred, and the garage doors cranked open to admit another vehicle.

Driven by Manny, Lovelyn was in the passenger seat. She climbed out and ran a cautious gaze across us, her shoulders going down an inch when she spotted me. “What’s going on?”

Arran’s single word returned to me. Leverage. Lovelyn was the daughter of a police officer. They were going to use her? New panic washed over me at the thought of the gentle and smart woman turned pawn or even hurt.

“Lovelyn’s here to gain access to the police building, correct?” I said.

Lovelyn swung her soft gaze between us. “Manny told me Convict is in the safe house. If you need to get inside, I can walk right in. Is that what you need?”

Tension held the air taut. Arran exchanged a glance with his crew, and at a nod from Shade, it broke. He commenced an explanation, bringing her into the planning, and I withered inside.

I’d potentially just protected my friend at a cost to the man I loved. No, I couldn’t think like that. We’d get him back without anyone else getting hurt. We had to.

My phone buzzed with a call from my brother.

“Where are ye?” he said.

“Leith. We’re trying to work out how to get him back.”

“Good. I just heard where the crew had gone so wanted to make sure you had that information.”

I clutched the phone tighter. “Aw, don’t do things like that or I might think you care.”

He made an off sound and didn’t answer.

“What happened after I left the meeting? Did Jacobs show?”

“No. It descended into anarchy, and the lawyer ran away.”

I pressed my fingertips to my forehead. “It’s all such a mess. I was wrong about the other businesses having trusted company status so getting a vote. What a waste of time, chasing after Jacobs.”

“Your grandfather rewrote the will recently. For all we know, that’s what he’d intended. Looking back with regret is pointless. It gets us nowhere.”

He was right. All I cared about now was saving Convict.

Kane continued. “I grabbed the lawyer for information on the fifth voter.”

I released a breath of disbelief, that nugget of information barely featuring against my towering worry for the man I cared about. “You mean our sibling.”

“Congratulations, ye have a sister.”

A sister. God. “Wedo, and what else did you find out? Do you know where she is?”

“No, but I will.”

Lovelyn said something close to me, and Kane paused.

“Is Lovelyn there?”

“She is. Arran thinks she might be able to help us.”

He swore and hung up.

Great.

There was nothing else for it but to plot a scheme. It had to work. I couldn’t accept another outcome. I needed Convict freed, even if I was the reason he’d walked away.