Page 33 of Girl Lost (The King Legacy #1)

LUNA STOLE A GLANCE AT CORBIN as he navigated the early morning traffic , heading to the Kingdom Gym.

Last night’s near-kiss replayed in her mind. What had she been thinking? She wasn’t thinking, and that was the problem. A moment of weakness, nothing more. Thank goodness Corbin hadn’t kissed her. What a disaster that would’ve been.

She’d carved out a life separate from him and everything in Millie Beach. She couldn’t let a moment of misplaced nostalgia undo all that. One kiss, and it all could’ve come crashing down.

Colleagues. That’s what they were now. Nothing more, nothing less.

It had to be that way. Lowering her defenses wasn’t an option, no matter how her traitorous heart sometimes whispered otherwise.

The trust between them had crumbled long ago, and her focus had to be on finding her mentor and her daughter.

Trinity’s medical records might hold the answers. If she could just get her hands on them.

She’d exhausted every method searching for the baby she’d given up.

Discreet inquiries, classified searches, quiet favors called in from old contacts.

Anything louder risked exposure, not just for her but for the daughter she was desperate to find.

And yet, she hadn’t gone to Stryker first. That part of her life stayed locked away, buried beneath years of regret and choices she couldn’t undo.

Admitting she was looking meant admitting she regretted giving her daughter up in the first place.

And if she never found her? She wasn’t sure she could face that either.

But without Stryker, she had nothing—no leads, no answers. Just a hope that had started to feel more like a punishment.

Corbin pulled into a parking spot and cut the engine. He glanced her way. “You good? You seem ... distant.”

Was she? Luna refocused. The case. That was where her energy needed to go.

He waited, one eyebrow raised in question.

“I’m fine. Let’s get to work.”

She pushed open the door and stepped out, rolling her shoulders to shake off the weight of old choices she couldn’t undo.

The automatic doors of the gym hissed open.

Thuds of fists against heavy bags and grunts of exertion filled the air.

She swept her gaze over the gym floor, taking in the mix of police officers and at-risk youth working side by side even this early.

Stryker’s vision, still alive and thriving in his absence.

Corbin reached the top of the stairs and glanced back at her. “Coming?”

Yeah, she was coming. But where was she going? Back to a life she’d left behind? Back to the man who’d broken her heart and the friends she’d abandoned? Wow, she was really off her game. Mind spinning in a thousand directions. That was what happened when life got complicated.

He waited, one hand on the railing.

“Coming.” She pounded up the stairs.

Corbin held the door to the office open for Luna.

Tori and Harlee stood near a bank of monitors, talking to a man with his back to her. Tall, with broad shoulders that stretched the fabric of his tailored shirt. Dark hair, a touch of wave.

He turned, a smile spreading across his face. A smile that reached his warm, dark eyes, eyes that crinkled at the corners. A neatly trimmed beard emphasized his strong jawline. He had the kind of face that could launch a thousand ships. Or sell a billion dollars’ worth of software.

“Luna? Holy smokes, is that really you?”

Jett. Of all of them, he’d always been the most sensitive, the one most likely to understand. To forgive.

“Hey, I thought you couldn’t make it.” She crossed the room, and he pulled her into a hug.

It felt good. Familiar. Safe. He smelled like sandalwood and success, a far cry from the skinny, nervous kid she’d known. But his hug was the same. A gentle squeeze, a warmth that radiated through her.

“Family emergency.” He stepped back, and his eyes searched hers. “I can’t believe it’s really you. It’s been ... too long.”

“Way too long.” She smiled. Not the practiced curve of her lips she’d perfected over the years. This was real.

“Well, sorry I’m late. Had to brief some important people on my updated intelligence-gathering software. You know how it is.” He gave Corbin a familiar hug and thump on the back, then gestured to the bank of monitors. “Harlee’s been keeping me in the loop, so I’m pretty well caught up.”

Harlee snorted. “More like I’ve been drowning him in data. But he seems to be handling it.”

“Speaking of handling it.” Tori sat on the corner of Stryker’s desk and picked up a rubber band, which she popped against her fingers. “How’s things going? Any progress finding Stryker?”

“We have a situation.” Corbin walked past Luna. His shoulder gently brushed hers, and she didn’t pull away. He eased into a chair. “We ran into some people who definitely don’t want us asking questions. This thing is way bigger than we initially thought.”

“You talkin’ about your ego again?” Blade strode into the room and patted Corbin on the shoulder on his way to greet Jett. They shared a quick handshake that turned into a hug with their hands smashed between their chests.

The gang really was all here.

Except Stryker. It had been too long. Way too long. The clock was ticking.

“So what did I miss?” Blade asked, turning to Corbin.

Corbin cradled his ribs with one arm and laid out their findings. The attacks at the skate park and the marina. The victims. The organ harvesting. Trinity’s possible connection. Each detail added another piece to a puzzle she wished they didn’t have to solve.

When he’d finished, the room was quiet save for the soft whir of the computer fans.

Luna’s gaze traveled from face to face, noting the subtle changes in her old friends.

Blade’s normally relaxed posture had stiffened, his shoulders drawn tight.

Tori stretched the rubber band across her fingers.

Harlee’s eyes had narrowed to slits, her arms crossed and held tight against her body.

Jett cleared his throat. “This is ... a lot to process.”

“Understatement,” Harlee muttered.

Blade exhaled, dragging a hand down his face. His eyes, usually warm with humor, had hardened to flints. “This is beyond anything we’ve dealt with before.”

“We need a plan.” Harlee’s jaw clenched. “How do we shut these lowlifes down?”

Harlee’s raw anger mirrored the heat building in Luna’s chest. These people had stolen lives, destroyed families. And for what? Profit?

“We form a task force,” Corbin said. “Pool our resources, our skills. We treat this like any other high-level operation. Just ... off the books.”

“Off the books? Why?” Blade narrowed his eyes at Corbin.

“Commissioner Tinch is trying to keep a lid on this. He wants these people stopped, but he’s tying my hands by refusing inter agency help. I think grief is clouding his judgment. Since this seems to be tied to Stryker, I figured you’d all be willing to help.”

Silence.

Corbin looked at each of them. “I need your help. All of you.”

Luna waited. Like she was watching a play unfold from the back row.

“If you need us, we’re there.” Blade looked at the others, and they agreed.

“Thanks, I appreciate it. But don’t put your jobs on the line. Prioritize your other cases first.” Corbin glanced at Luna. She caught the subtle bob of his Adam’s apple.

“All right,” he said, clapping his hands together. “Jett, we need you to set up a secure database for all our evidence and leads. Something we can all access but that’s protected from outside eyes.”

Jett nodded, his fingers already flying over the keys. “On it. I’ve got some ideas for an encrypted system that should do the trick.”

“Good. Tori, I want you to start building profiles on our victims. Look for patterns, commonalities. Anything that might help us understand why these particular girls were targeted.”

Tori pulled out a notebook and jotted down notes. “All right, I’ll need all the information we got on the victims so far.”

“You’ll have it,” Corbin assured her. “Blade, I need you to start reaching out to your contacts in local law enforcement. See if there are any similar cases we might have missed. And Harlee, I need you to dig deeper into Trinity’s background. Her friends, her habits, anywhere she might have gone.”

Luna found her gaze drawn to Corbin. He was in his element, coordinating the team, piecing together the puzzle. It was a side of him she’d never really seen before, and she couldn’t help but feel a twinge of regret for all the years they’d lost.

“What about you two?” Jett asked, looking up from his laptop. “Where do you fit in all this?”

“Our first step needs to be getting Trinity’s medical records,” she said.

Jett’s eyebrows rose. “That could be tricky. Patient confidentiality laws are pretty strict.”

“I know, but hear me out.” Luna met each of their gazes in turn.

Wanting her records wasn’t entirely selfish.

“If we can prove that Trinity’s new heart came from one of the missing girls, we’ll have solid evidence the Chiron BioInnovation Center is buying organs on the black market.

Probable cause to investigate the clinic. And maybe, just maybe, find Stryker.”

Corbin nodded. “She’s right. It could be a concrete link between the organ harvesting and a specific recipient.”

“Where are her parents?” Blade asked.

“Foster kid,” Tori said. “Parents died in a car crash. She started running with the wrong crowd, partying, shoplifting, the usual. Stryker knew her parents and brought her into the program to avoid juvie.”

“He saved her, just like he saved us,” Luna said.

Harlee snapped her eyes to Luna. “Speak for yourself. I never needed saving.”

“Of course not,” she said. “My mistake.”

Jett gave Harlee a reprimanding look then turned to Corbin. “Don’t we have medical records here?”

“Harlee already pulled her file,” Tori said. “But it’s basic. Name, address, allergies, you know, the stuff the kids fill out on intake.”