Page 62 of Fractured Future

Honestly, I’m not surprised. Eighteen months isn’t long enough for me to get accustomed to Axel and his craziness.

“Well… yeah. But that’s Axel.”

“Just keep him the hell away from my sister,” Tom says curtly.

Glancing in the rearview mirror, I check to see if Ember is still asleep. She quickly passed out when we set off, her head propped against the car window. Something about her seems off today.

“With pleasure. How’s she doing?”

Pocketing his phone, Tom blankly stares at the traffic. “Honestly? I have no idea. She’s barely talking to me. Still refusing to see a doctor too.”

“Well, shit. Any idea why?”

“She won’t say. Just outright refuses.”

Sickly tendrils of suspicion creep through me. I’m a pretty good judge of character. Not Warner-level perceptive, but enough to do my job.

What did they do to Ember?

“You can’t push her?” I suggest.

“Believe me, I’ve tried. She claims to be feeling fine. Short of pinning her down… I’m out of options. She seems healthy.”

“Appearances can be deceiving.”

“I asked if they…” He grips the back of his neck, swallowing loudly. “You know? But she claims no one touched her like that. She was protected by her position.”

“That’s something, right?”

“I guess so. She still needs a full medical, I just don’t know how to make it happen.”

My stomach flip-flops at the possibilities. “She hasn’t told you anything else?”

“Not a word.” His hands form fists in his lap. “I already knew about the street fights, but she won’t tell me anything else. You seen her fists?”

“Yeah. I have.”

He wordlessly shakes his head.

“From the little information Ember gave us in Mexico, she was found in some illegal fight club before contacting us. We heard reports of a disturbance in the area via online traffic.”

“Jesus Christ.” Tom rubs his eyes with his fingers, already appearing exhausted. “An illegal fight club?”

“Yeah,” I confirm grimly.

“Those motherfuckers… No wonder she’s traumatised. How the hell did she survive?”

“She’s strong.”

Tom glances up at Sabre’s overwhelming height as we head for the parking garage. “She always has been. Even when our mum was dying, Ember held us all together.”

“That’s how she survived then.”

From working a previous human trafficking case, I never held out much hope that we’d find Ember, let alone in one piece. Meanwhile, Warner never doubted for a moment that she’d be alive and kicking.

But I’ve seen enough from the red-haired spitfire in the past few days to understand the sheer breadth of her strength. No one survives six years of brutal fights and captivity without having nerves of steel.

Her courage and strength… it’s fucking formidable. Just like her. I never paid much attention when we briefly met before, but she sure holds my whole attention now.