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Rikki shakes her head quickly. “One of the bouncers who owes me a favor killed the feed and put it on a loop. We’ve got maybe an hour before anyone notices.”

We may luck out that Pace is busy with a new baby and isn’t hyper-focused on everything going on around East End for once. I look at Hunter. He gives me a small nod–the kind that says he’s with me, whatever I decide.

“We’ll help,” I say finally. “But this isn’t the Barons. It’s me doing this for you.”

Son to mother.

“Thank you,” she says.

“But we’re going to need help.” I pull out my phone and dial a number I shouldn’t have in my phone.

Agent Knight answers on the third ring, sounding half asleep and fully irritated. “Kemp. This better be good.”

“Remember that North Side mess we cleaned up for you last month?” I say. “Tonight we need a favor in return.”

Twenty minutes later, Knight walks through the back door in a faded FBI sweatshirt looking pissed. He looks like he just got out of bed–hair messy, a sleep line running down his cheek. He takes one look at the body and curses.

“This isn’t even your territory,” he snaps.

“Sometimes loyalties cross lines,” Hunter says calmly, eyes flicking pointedly to the spot on Knight’s forearm where I know a Viper tattoo sits hidden beneath his sleeve. “I think you understand that better than most.”

Knight’s jaw works, but he doesn’t argue. “Anyone want to tell me what happened?”

“No,” Hunter, Rikki, and I all say at the same time. Ari is sitting next to Jessica, comforting her.

We check the dead man’s wallet. Family photos spill out–two little kids smiling, a wife in her white wedding dress. Just a regular pervert who got what was coming. Now his family will have to live with the consequences.

We devise the plan quickly. Simple. Plausible.

Most of all it doesn’t lead back to any of us.

Jace and Slade help us wrap the body in a dark blanket and carry it out the back. We load him into the trunk of the SUV. Ari offers to stay behind to clean up.

“You sure?” Personally, I don’t want to be here a minute longer.

“Yeah,” she looks back at Rikki and Jessica. “I’ll stay and make sure everyone is okay.”

I push my hand behind her neck, and rest my forehead against hers. “You’re the fucking best, you know that?”

A shy but pleased grin tugs at her mouth. Ari loves praise. It’s obvious she went too long in her life without ever getting any. If saying nice shit to her makes her smile back at me like that? I’ll do it all fucking day.

“I’ll have Jace stay with you. Stay inside. Don’t go anywhere.”

“I won’t.”

My mom stops me before I get out the door. I ignore Knight watching the two of us–trying to figure it out. “Thank you for doing this.”

I shrug. “Like you said, what’s the point of having this power if I don’t use it.”

Once we’re on the road, Knight sits in the passenger seat while I drive. Hunter and Slade are driving the dead man’s car behind us. The SUV is quiet except for the low hum of the engine, until curiosity gets the best of me.

“So what’s your deal, Knight? You show up here working for the FBI, looking to solve a kidnapping and murder case, but it’s obvious there’s more to the story.”

Knight stares out the window, and I’m pretty sure he’s just going to tell me to fuck off, when he says. “I grew up here.”

“Huh.”

“I have family here,” he continues. “A past that I thought I’d left behind, but when people needed help, I came back.”