Page 102 of Fatal Pattern

“Please don’t do that.” She cut him off with a raised hand. “I knew the risks when I helped, and I did it anyway.”

A uniformed officer walked past, his radio crackling with dispatch codes. Blade watched Kiara’s face, seeing the kindness in her eyes. The way her mouth curved downward, not in anger but in understanding.

“Kiara, I’m so sorry,” Tori said. “You don’t deserve this. You risked everything to help me learn the truth about my family. I owe you for that.”

“No, you don’t. I’m just glad you found answers about your family.” Kiara pulled Tori into a gentle hug that surprised him. “I really hope you guys figure everything out—about your brother and everything else.”

Her eyes found Blade’s over Tori’s shoulder, and he understood she meant him and Tori also.

Kiara stepped back, smoothed her dress, and walked toward the exit without another word.

The automatic doors closed behind her with a soft whoosh.

Tori slipped her hand into his. “You okay?”

“Yeah.” He exhaled hard. Kiara’s kindness made it worse. “She loses her career for helping us and still walks out like she’s thanking the world for the chance.”

“We’ll find a way to make it right for her.”

Yeah. He wanted to believe that. Especially now, with the truth staring him right in the face. Kiara had been right all along.

He’d been in love with Tori and never knew it.

“C’mon,” he said, tugging Tori’s hand. “Let’s go.”

They walked through the glass doors into the afternoon heat. The asphalt radiated warmth through his boots as he crossed the parking lot. His Charger sat in the shade of a dying palm tree, its black paint dulled by dust and salt air. He really should run it through a car wash.

He opened the driver’s door and slid behind the wheel. The leather seat scorched his back through his shirt. The car was idling from his remote start, but the air-conditioning hadn’t done much to cut through the heat.

Tori thumbed across her phone screen and tapped rapid fire on the keyboard. Whatever she typed stayed between her and the phone.

“Seems like our only path forward is that key,” he said, backing out of the parking space.

“Your wish is Jett’s command. Harlee says they’ve found something and to meet them at the gym.” She buckled her seat belt. “Vamos, Tiger.”

He laughed, shaking his head. “If you think that’s funny, wait till you hear my siblings’ names.”

Minutes later, Blade pulled into the lot and parked behind the Kingdom MMA building. He studied the peeling paint as they walked toward the entrance. “Remind me to get this place painted.”

Tori nodded, running her finger along a strip of loose paint. “Stryker spent so much on the inside remodel, he didn’t have anything left for outside.”

“Yeah.” Blade pulled the door open, holding it for her. “Be nice for him to wake up and see it looking good.”

They jogged up the metal staircase and pushed through the office door.

Jett looked up from his workstation. The ultrawide monitor glowed around him, displaying code that scrolled too fast to read. Harlee sat across the room, her fingers dancing across a mechanical keyboard that clacked like machine gun fire.

“Tell me you found something useful,” Tori said.

Harlee spun her chair toward them. “We ran Damien’s financials backward and forward. No safe deposit box payments anywhere.”

Blade dropped into the nearest chair. “What about his wife? Michelle?”

Harlee looked at him like he’d asked what color the sky was. “We checked that. Both sets of parents. Came up empty.”

Jett rolled his chair toward Blade, wheels squeaking against the concrete floor. He handed over a sheet of paper covered in technical diagrams and specifications. “I uploaded photos of your key to my analysis software. Found the manufacturer, the type, everything.”

Blade studied the printout. Numbers and measurements filled the margins alongside close-up photographs of the key’s teeth and grooves.