CHAPTER 122
SKYLAR'S POV
The punching bag felt like it was fighting back this morning, each impact sending shockwaves up my arms that I welcomed. Pain meant I was alive. Pain meant I was getting stronger. Pain meant I wasn't the helpless little girl my father thought he could still control.
I'd been at this for two hours before the guys found me, and I could feel their eyes on me through the glass doors. They were worried - I could see it in their faces when I finally stopped and faced them. But worry wouldn't keep us alive. Preparation would.
After our conversation in the hallway, I headed upstairs to shower while they started making calls and pulling together the information we'd need. The hot water felt good on my sore muscles, but I didn't linger. There was too much to do, and every moment we wasted was another moment my father had to plan his next move.
When I came back downstairs, dressed in dark jeans and a fitted black sweater, Lucas had his laptop open on the kitchen island and was typing rapidly. Harry was on the phone, speaking in low tones to someone he clearly trusted. Jax was making coffee, but his attention was focused on me.
"Find anything useful?" I asked, wrapping my arms around Jax's waist from behind. I needed the contact, needed to feel grounded to something real and good before we dove into the darkness again.
He leaned back into me, his hand covering mine on his chest. "Lucas found something big. Show her," he called to Lucas.
Lucas turned the laptop toward me, and I felt my blood run cold. Bank statements, transaction records, and what looked like shipping manifests filled the screen. But it wasn't the amounts that made my stomach churn - it was the timing.
"These transfers started three days after the accident," Lucas said quietly. "Large sums moving from William's personal accounts to a company called Meridian Holdings."
"I've never heard of Meridian," I said, but something about the name felt familiar.
"That's because it didn't exist until a week after your father supposedly died," Lucas continued. "It was incorporated in the Cayman Islands, with a single shareholder listed as M. Addison."
My mother's name. My father was using my dead mother's name for his shell company.
"That sick bastard," I whispered, my hands clenching into fists. "He's using her memory to launder money."
Harry finished his call and joined us at the island. "My contact confirmed what we suspected. William has been planning this for months, maybe longer. The attack on our house wasn't spontaneous - it was designed to force us into hiding so they could regroup."
"Regroup for what?" Jax asked.
"That's what we need to find out," Harry said grimly. "But my gut tells me it's something big. Something that requires Jack to be officially dead."
I stared at the screen, my mind racing. My father had always been calculating, always thinking three steps ahead. If he'd gone to this much trouble to fake his death and hide his operations, he had a plan. And knowing him, that plan involved making me suffer as much as possible before he killed me.
"There's something else," Lucas said hesitantly. "The shipping manifests... they're for containers coming into the port here. Regular shipments, every two weeks for the past three months."
"What kind of containers?" I asked, though I was afraid I already knew the answer.
"The manifests just say 'textiles,' but the pattern is wrong. Too regular, too precise. And the receiving company..." He pulled up another screen. "It's registered to the same address as three different massage parlors that were shut down last year for trafficking violations."
The room went silent. We all knew what that meant.
"He's rebuilding," I said quietly. "Everything we thought we destroyed when he 'died' - he's been rebuilding it from the shadows."
"Using William's money and connections," Harry added.
"And my mother's name to hide the paper trail," I finished, feeling sick.
Jax's arms tightened around me. "We'll stop him. We'll stop all of it."
"How?" I asked, though I was already forming ideas in my head. Dark ideas that probably should have scared me more than they did.
"The same way we always have," Harry said, his voice hard. "We take the fight to them before they can bring it to us."
Lucas was already typing again. "I can trace these shipping routes, find out exactly where the containers are going. And I can access more of William's accounts now that I know what to look for."
"What about the girls?" I asked. "If he's trafficking again, there are girls who need help now. We can't just focus on the money trail."
"We can do both," Jax said. "But we have to be smart about it. One wrong move and they'll disappear completely, take the operation underground where we'll never find them."
I nodded, but inside I was burning with the need to act. Somewhere in this city, girls were being hurt the same way I'd been hurt. Girls who were probably younger than I was when it started. The thought made my chest tight with rage.
"I want to see the containers," I said suddenly.
"Skylar..." Harry started.
"No, listen to me. We need intelligence, right? We need to know what we're dealing with. I can get close to those operations in ways you can't. People underestimate women, especially young women who look vulnerable."
"Absolutely not," all three of them said at once.
"You don't get to make that decision for me," I snapped, pulling away from Jax. "I'm not asking for permission. I'm telling you what I'm going to do."
"Like hell you are," Harry said, standing up. "We just got you back. We're not losing you again."
"You won't lose me because I know what I'm doing now. I'm not the same person who got kidnapped by Bentley. I'm not the same person who used to hide in closets from my father." I looked at each of them in turn. "I'm someone who fights back."
Lucas closed his laptop with a sharp click. "If you're going to do this, we do it together. No more splitting up, no more solo missions. We're a team, or we're nothing."
"Agreed," I said immediately. "But we do it my way. I take point on anything involving getting close to the operation. You three handle the technical stuff and backup."
"And if something goes wrong?" Jax asked quietly.
I smiled, and I could feel how cold it was. "Then we make sure they regret it."
But as I looked at their worried faces, I couldn't shake the feeling that I was already becoming someone they might not recognize when this was over.
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