“Near the old bridge, sir. Beside that abandoned factory nobody goes to anymore. She was with a big black dog. I brought her water from a fountain, but she just kept saying she was hungry and that I had to come find you. She told me to tell you that… that the dog was still with her.”
Nathan’s blood ran cold.
Ranger.
No one outside the family knew the dog’s name. Ranger had vanished the same day as Lauren’s accident. The police figured he’d gone over the cliff with the car. They never found him. Just like they never found Lauren’s body.
“Bring the car around,” Nathan ordered one of the guards without taking his eyes off the boy. “And get him something warm to wear.”
Aiden stared up at him, surprised.
“So… you believe me?”
Nathan didn’t know what to say. Not completely. Not yet. But even the smallest chance that Lauren might be alive tore his chest wide open.
“I believe you enough to verify it,” he said at last. “And if you’re lying, kid, you picked the wrong man to lie to.”
Aiden swallowed, but his gaze didn’t waver.