Page 24 of Merciless Obsession (The Bloodline #2)

ZIORA

“ Y ou might think you’re smart, Gregory, but I bet you didn’t expect me to dive into your life,” I mumbled. My eyes shifted to my second monitor where Gregory’s hidden bank accounts were displayed.

“This is why I don’t do relationships or feelings.” I shook my head.

Gregory’s soon to be ex-wife, Marissa, had hired me to investigate her husband.

He was partner at his very profitable real estate company but apparently couldn’t keep it in his pants.

His wife was promised child support and alimony but Gregory was trying to downplay his net worth.

Marissa was right to be suspicious. From what I could tell her husband had a mistress put up that he spent money on.

From hacking his phone it looks like he also had a secret kid with said mistress and was paying her to stay quiet, at least till after the divorce was finalized.

“Douchebag.” I rolled my eyes, adding the info to the file. With a good lawyer Marissa wouldn’t have to work once she got all this information. A good thing about coming to me was I didn’t have to follow the same rules lawyers’ researchers did. She was smart to outsource.

Ten minutes later I was emailing her an encrypted link so she could access everything I found.

I had already received payment so my job was done and I was eight grand richer.

My next job was more costly because it was riskier.

My client wanted me to hack into some medical records.

Apparently he believed his wife was being dishonest about some diagnoses.

I didn’t ask questions, as long as the check cleared I was game.

A lot of the jobs I took were from spouses or parents needing dirt on the other party involved in their relationship.

Sometimes I got CEOs or businesspeople wanting to check the competition out and get into their files.

Other times it was police reports, medical records, bank accounts, phones, or other trivial things.

I made good money on my blog from sponsors, but my main source of income was from hacking.

Some may have thought it was unethical but that wasn’t my problem.

Hacking also helped me clear my mind. Getting lost in cyberspace in my own bubble was all I knew to help me cope with my trauma. It helped me make money to stay afloat and eat when my parents were so lost in their demons that there was no food in the house.

Pausing from my next job, I went to my file for the Tavarezes.

Opening one of my drawers I pulled out a sucker, unwrapped it, and stuck it in my mouth.

After entering the password, I scanned the screen looking over everything I knew.

Yesterday, after Ezra left, I spent over an hour updating it, adding in everything I learned about them.

Their cause seemed good, but I knew there was more Ezra didn’t tell me.

I did a deep dive into their family’s past. I wanted to know more about their family.

He said his grandfather started The Bloodline as a way to get justice for his wife when the police refused and I found no proof of an attack.

I did, however, find that his great grandfather was suspected to have connections to the Larks family, a well-known organized crime organization back in the fifties.

They had given him the nickname, ‘The Reaper’, but they were never able to find proof he was a paid for hire killer for the organization.

Pulling my sucker out of my mouth, my lips twisted to the side and I tapped my pointer finger against my mouse.

I had more questions than when I first started looking into this family.

Everything about them was a show. They had built this reputable persona to the world but in reality they were stone cold killers.

I was pulled from my thoughts when my doorbell went off. I wasn’t expecting anyone and wasn’t in the mood for company either. Pulling my camera app up on my phone, I opened it and was surprised to see Lucas on my doorstep. He seemed to be alone, but I wasn’t sure why he was here.

I closed out the files on his family then pushed away from my desk and headed out of my office. Lucas impatiently knocked on the door.

When I got to the bottom of the steps to the front door I yanked it open. “You don’t have to knock so hard,” I spat, narrowing my eyes at him.

Dressed in a maroon turtleneck with a black peacoat and black jeans stood Lucas Tavarez.

He had a blue folder in his hand and black square frames resting on the bridge of his medium sized nose.

One of the top trauma surgeons in the city, and also the second oldest brother in the family, but I couldn’t get a read on him though.

He seemed to be a mix between the three.

Quiet and observative, but not in a wary way like Emmet.

His eyes held life. Even when we were at that barn, he didn’t seem that interested in the torture and killing.

It was like he was there physically but mentally his mind was elsewhere.

“I need to talk to you,” Lucas said, gaining my attention again. His demeanor was cool and nonthreatening.

I peeked behind him and looked around.

“Ezra isn’t with me if that’s who you’re looking for.” He smirked.

My eyes snapped to him. “I wasn’t. I just don’t like uninvited guests.”

“Can I come in?”

Shifting my sucker in my mouth, I stepped back and opened my door wider. I looked around again before closing the door behind him.

“What can I do for you?”

Lucas turned to face me. “My brothers mentioned you had an evidence board and more information about the kidnapping and killings of these young girls. I want to see it.”

I studied him. From what I knew, he was determined to find his friend that went missing a couple years before my sister.

“Follow me,” I told him, walking to the steps.

I led Lucas upstairs into my office. Walking across the room, I flipped my evidence board and stepped back, allowing him to get a closer look.

Lucas didn’t speak right away. His eyes first scanned the board with everything I’d collected so far before turning his attention to the board on the wall with the girls’ names, missing dates, birthdays, and the day they were found murdered, if it applied.

“A lot of the girls went missing in this area. It’s a park, right?” he asked, pointing to where a good amount of the red pins were on the map.

“Yes, it is.” I stepped closer, staring at the map. “Is that where your friend went missing?”

Lucas turned to face me. “I’m not sure. I know she was hanging out with her cousin and they never returned to their grandparents’ house. They were supposed to be going up the street to get ice cream the day they were taken.”

“Where do the grandparents live?”

He named the street. It was a couple blocks from the park.

“She must have really meant a lot to you if you held on to finding her after this long.”

Lucas adjusted his glasses. “She’s the only girl I’ve ever loved,” he stated.

“When Adrian’s cousin Liyah was found and she wasn’t I figured she still had to be alive somewhere.

” He opened the blue folder he had in his hand.

“This is what she would look like today if she was found.” He handed me a sheet of paper.

“You mentioned before that all the girls had something in common.”

I grabbed it and studied the girl. She was a beauty—caramel skin, full cupid’s bow, blush pink lips, light brown, almond-shaped eyes with a distinguishable birthmark going through her right eye.

“Yes. They all came from low-income, damaged homes. Girls that would be written off as runaways. I guess whoever is taking them figured they wouldn’t be cared about if they went missing.”

I brought the picture closer. “You said your friend was with her cousin? Does she fit that profile?”

“Yeah. I guess. Her mom left when she was younger. Her dad was a con artist, who had got caught months before the girls were taken. Their grandparents had gotten custody of her so she didn’t have to go to foster care, but they were older, had no business raising a preteen, so she basically did what she wanted.

Adrian wanted her to come and live with them after the summer but then they were gone. ”

I glanced at Lucas. His jaw clenched and his top lip twitched before he adjusted his glasses again. His whiskey, round eyes shifted back to the board.

I knew what he was feeling. The cops told me I needed to just let it go. That my sister’s murderer was gone and it was time to move on. But I knew that wasn’t the case and the girls that went missing after her were proof.

“What exactly is it that you want from me?” I lowered the paper and stared at him.

“Who do you think is behind these kidnappings?”

“If I knew that then I would have been exposed their operation.” Pushing past him I set the paper on my desk and took a seat. Waking my computer up, I went to one of the files of information I’d found.

“All I know is they’ve been operating for a while.

They’re skillful and have help staying off the radar.

They seem to strike mostly at the beginning of fall when school starts back, and at the end of spring when school is ending.

There have been incidents where girls went missing in between, however.

Most of the girls taken vanish, but for whatever reason they kill certain ones.

I haven’t found the connection between them yet.

The cops hardly ever investigate and usually brush it off as a runaway.

” I paused for a microsecond before clicking another file.

“Some of the girls have appeared online temporarily. Their appearances were altered but it’s them.

Not all are from around here either. Whoever uploads them is good, even I have trouble tracking their whereabouts, a lot of the time they have scramblers set up that hide their locations.

Their pages are heavily encrypted with firmware that?—”