And what he’d found was about as far away from pretty as a case could get.
Not only had Cera lost her entire family that night, the bastard who’d killed her little sister had been the young girl’s biological father. Having accessed the complete, not-for-public-consumption file—illegally, of course—Ivan unveiled a lifetime of hurt James Stiegler had left in his wake.
One particular account of events more painful to him than the rest.
Ivan picked up his phone and dialed Declan’s number. It was late, and the man was probably asleep, but he didn’t care. This was important.
Really fucking important.
“King.” As expected, Declan’s groggy voice was rough with sleep.
“It’s me. I know it’s late, but I found something I thought you’d want to know.
“Hang on.”
A soft rustling sound reached Ivan’s ears, and he could tell Dec was getting out of bed. An inaudible whisper came next, and though he couldn’t understand the other man’s words, Ivan inferred that Dec had been talking to his wife.
Better be Skye. I’ll beat the cheating bastard’s ass, otherwise.
Like Declan, Skye had become family to Jax, and by proxy, Ivan. And brother to the boss or not, Ivan would never stand by while Dec—or any other man—disrespected his woman that way.
“Okay, I’m here. Sorry. Didn’t want to wake Skye.”
“I figured. Listen, I don’t know if this has anything to do with anything, but I wanted to know ASAP, so you could use the department’s resources to look into it, too. Make sure I’m not missing anything.”
“Whatcha got?”
Ivan went through it all. The break-in. The murders. Seventeen-year-old Cera surviving a gunshot wound to the chest.
“Says here, Stiegler had been stalking the family for two years prior to the killings,” he shared what else he’d learned.
“Wait.” Declan sounded more alert. “Her mom was a victim of a stalker, and now she is, too?”
“Hell of a coincidence, isn’t it?”
“If you believe in that sort of thing.”
Which neither man did.
Ivan blew out a breath. “Well, if the two casesarerelated, we know it’s not James Stiegler, since the fucker’s been dead for over a decade.”
“You thinking they’re connected?”
“Could be. Someone close to Stiegler who blames the only survivor for Stiegler’s death?”
“Anything’s possible,” Declan mused. “I’ll do some digging into Stiegler’s living relatives and any widow or old girlfriend. Maybe we’ll get lucky and stumble onto a lead.”
“I’ll do what I can on my end, too. Thanks.”
“No problem. Oh, and hey…you get your girl settled in at The Douglas all right?”
“She’s not my girl, but yeah. She’s there.”
“You know, I do feel bad for her. Such a chickenshit move, cutting up all her clothes like that.”
“Fuck yeah, it was.” Ivan’s fists tightened. “I did get her a few things that will hopefully help ease the sting, though.”
“See? I don’t care what my brother says. You’re not that big of an asshole.”