Page 93 of Iron

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

Petra

Garen walked into my office after I answered his knock.

“There’s a car parked down the street. It’s been there for two hours,” he told me the moment he closed the door behind him.

Since the mishap with Midori, I’d upped the security, adding extra cameras all up and down the street. All the other buildings were empty except for this one so there wasn’t a lot to watch. No one should have been parked on the street like that. The Gilded Rose had a parking lot out back. And most of our clients had drivers, so it was rarely used.

I tapped the keys on my keyboard, bringing up the live feed.

I didn’t watch the outside cameras all that often, letting Garen and the rest of my security team handle the lookout.

“Are we sure it’s not Bridget?” I asked and almost laughed in my head.

Garen froze, his expression horrified.

“What?” I asked, my head tilting slightly to the side as I looked him dead in the eyes.

“Did you just try to be funny?” he asked me, his tone strange.

My eyes blinked and my gaze fell to the top of my desk.

“I suppose that’s what it was.” I shrugged. My expression turned serious as I looked back up at him. “Do we know who it is?”

“No. I can’t see into the car, but by the smaller figure, I’d say female.”

“Bring her to me,” I told him before looking back to the screen.

Garen did as I expected him to do, going out the back and sneaking around until he could come up on the car without being noticed until it was too late.

The girl stepped out, her body shaking so hard that it was visible on the screen. I watched as he gently escorted her out of sight.

A few minutes later, I heard them approaching the office door.

I took a seat just as the door opened.

Garen carefully, but sternly, brought the girl to one of the chairs in front of me. She reluctantly sat after I flicked my eyes to the chair.

“Is there a reason why you have been sitting in your car for two hours on my street?” I asked in a tone that I wasn’t going to let her bullshit me.

She played with her fingers. She looked so nervous I was worried that she was going to pee herself and ruin my chair.

“I-I’m looking for my sister,” she answered.

I said nothing but my brow went up as if telling her to go on.

“Her name is Emily.”

Garen’s body went stiff at hearing Midori’s real name and I saw his hand twitch at his side. He was ready to draw his weapon if needed. I shot him a look telling him to relax. I didn’t think this girl could be a threat. I also knew better than to misjudge a situation, so I didn’t tell him to go.

“Why would you think this person is here?” I asked with no hint that I knew who she was talking about.

“I overheard my father and brother talking about coming to get her. Before my brother left, I went searching through his things. I found this address.”

I could tell she wasn’t lying to me. No, this girl wouldn’t know how to lie even if she wanted to. She was too scared, too young and naïve. I still wasn’t sure why she was here, and for that I kept quiet.

“Please,” the girl pleaded but it did nothing for me. “Our mother shot our father when she found out what was going on. She’s in jail and since Cody and Buck haven’t returned, they are trying to say she killed them too. They told me that they would open an investigation and look into it. I need Emily to get them to go back. Or at least tell the sheriff that they came here and she saw them.”